


Is It My Fault?

by kaitmonster7



Series: Is It My Fault? [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Attempted Murder, Blow Jobs, Canon-Typical Violence, Child Death, Child Murder, Explicit rating for later chapters, F/M, Kidnapping, Masturbation, Oral Sex, Stalking, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Violence, takes place in season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:01:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24264013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaitmonster7/pseuds/kaitmonster7
Summary: Reader is a member of the BAU, brought on before Gideon left. When she recognizes a photo of herself with a new victim, she must remember her childhood and figure out what happened to the victim, before the unsub comes back for her. At the same time, a romance blooms between reader and Hotch, who is reluctant after being recently divorced and being reader's boss.Takes place in season 3.title taken from the song My Fault by Imagine Dragons
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner/Original Female Character(s), Aaron Hotchner/Reader
Series: Is It My Fault? [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1762765
Comments: 20
Kudos: 262





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written a fanfiction before, this is my first one! Non-betaed so please let me know if you notice any spelling errors! I will hopefully be posting chapters frequently!
> 
> Y/N = your name  
> Y/L/N = your last name  
> Y/H/C = your hair colour

JJ called us in early for a new case, and I poured myself a cup of coffee before heading into the conference room. Reid was pouring way too much sugar into his, and I cringed. 

“Hey, don’t judge me, I’ve seen the weird things you eat,” he said in jest, and I smiled, bumping his shoulder before heading to the conference room.

Everyone else was already in the room, except for Hotch, who joined us just after Reid. 

“We have a body found dumped in the woods, 6 year old girl. Coroner puts time of death about 20 years ago.”

“20 years? And we’re just finding this body now?” Morgan asked, looking at the photos from the crime scene.

“Someone must have been holding onto it this whole time, the dump site isn’t exactly a secret location, people walk through there every day, someone was bound to have found it before now,” Emily added, as JJ put photos up on the board.

“Dental records ID the victim as Sarah Asher. She went missing 20 years ago in Boston, never any evidence to find. We’ve notified her father, mother passed 17 years ago. Grief.” JJ explained, placing photos of Sarah when she was alive, alongside photos of the skeleton that had been found. One photo stood out, a photo of two little girls.

I stared at the photo on the board, feeling a sense of déjà vu coming over me. I recognized the girls in the photo, but I couldn’t immediately place them. As I stood up to move toward it, I heard Hotch call my name, but I was drawn to the photo.

As soon as I got close to it, I gasped, realizing exactly who the girls were. One was our victim, Sarah Asher, the other was me.

“Y/N, you okay?” JJ asked, coming to stand beside me.

“No…this girl in the photo with Sarah…”

“Childhood friend, it was one of the photos Mr. Asher gave us.”

“This girl is me.”

I heard everyone gasp behind me, and Hotch came over, pulling me to face him. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’ve seen photos of me wearing that same dress.”

“So you knew Sarah Asher?”

“I don’t…I don’t remember her. I don’t remember much before I was 8…”

Hotch turned to the team, “continue working on this, Y/L/N come with me,” he said, pulling me gently to follow him. We went to his office and he closed the door behind us. 

“Tell me what you remember.”

“I told you, I don’t remember much of anything before I was 8. My parents never talked about it.”

“Why?”

“They always said something happened so we had to move. They only kept a few photos of me before then. I always assumed it was my mother’s family, they’re kind of hostile.” I shook my head, sitting in the chair closest to me. “Hotch, what does this mean?” 

“It means you’re off the case until we figure out what your connection to Sarah Asher is.”

“What? No. Hotch, I need to help with this. If I knew her before she was kidnapped, I need to remember it.” I stood again, angry at my boss.

“Yes, you do. Which is why you can’t be a part of the case until that happens.”

“At least sideline me. I won’t go into the field, I’ll look at paperwork and help Garcia. The best way for me to remember is to put myself into her life.”

Hotch stared at me for what felt like minutes, though his unblinking eyes usually did that. 

“Fine, you’ll help Garcia here unless I call you.”

“Understood.” Hotch opened the door and we went back to the conference room.

“What did we miss?” He asked, taking his seat at the table. I sat down in my seat next to Reid, who looked at me questioningly. I just shook my head. We’d discuss it later. I had very few secrets from Reid.

“Looking over the autopsy report, there wasn’t any damage done to the body, before or after death,” Reid answered, passing the report to Hotch.

“Cause of death?”

“Asphyxiation, no marks on the neck, most likely the unsub smothered her,” Reid said, giving me a quick apologetic look.

“So no marks, no signs of abuse or torture, and he killed her peacefully, why take her at all?” Morgan questioned.

“Are we sure it’s a he? This sign of care says female not male,” Emily objected.

“Why take her, and keep the body for 20 years, only to dump it in a well-traveled location? They wanted us to find her,” Rossi piped up.

“JJ get the plane ready, wheels up in 30,” Hotch said, standing up, “Y/L/N is staying behind with Garcia.” He said with authority before walking out of the room. Emily and Morgan gave me a sad look before also leaving. Rossi patted me on the shoulder, “We’re gonna figure this out, bella, ” He said, calling me by his nickname for me. He and JJ left the room, leaving me alone with my two best friends.

“Y/N, what the hell is going on?” Penelope asked, grabbing my hands in hers.

“I have no idea. My parents moved us to Richmond when I was 7, they never told me why. I’m guessing it had something to do with Sarah’s disappearance though.”

“Do you think they know something about what happened, and that’s why they moved away?” Spencer asked, and I shook my head. 

“I dunno, I have to call them, ask what they remember. Spence, you better go.”

Spencer stood and pulled me up into a hug. “Call me if you need anything, okay?” I nodded into his shoulder and he let me go, grabbing his stuff before heading out.

“You wanna talk to your parents now?” Penelope asked, and I nodded. “I think I need to bring them in. If the reason we moved is related to Sarah Asher we need to know.”

I called my parents and told them they needed to come to Quantico immediately. My mother freaked out of course, but I just told her it was important and I needed them both to be here. While I waited for them to arrive, I went to Garcia’s office, and sat as she typed away on the computer, looking into Sarah’s missing person case files.

“Find anything?”

“Not much, sweetie. Parents reported her missing when she didn’t come back from the park for dinner, no evidence found at the park. Started looking for a body couple days later, never found anything. They wrote it up as kidnapping and that she was taken across state lines, but with nothing to go on the case went cold.”

“JJ said her mother died 3 years later?”

“Yeah, she became heavily depressed after Sarah went missing. Husband hospitalized her in 1989, she died 6 months later. Wouldn’t eat or drink, they had to IV her for nutrients. Eventually she just…gave up hope.” Penelope responded sadly.

“Her daughter went missing without a single trace, cops gave up on her, I can see why she did.”

“Your parents on their way?”

“Yeah, they should be here shortly.”

“Did you tell them?”

“No, I wanted them here so we could get their initial reaction.”

“You don’t think they know something about this?” Penelope asked, turning towards me.

“I don’t know. It’s too convenient that we moved right after Sarah went missing and that they hid my childhood from me. Let me know if you find anything else, I’m gonna go wait for them downstairs.”

Garcia nodded, giving me a sad smile and turning back to her computers.

My mother wanted an explanation right away, but I led them upstairs before answering any questions. I commandeered Hotch’s office, making sure I had my phone recorder turned on.

“Y/N tell us what this is about, right now” My father demanded, and I nodded from behind Hotch’s desk.

“We got a case this morning, body found in the woods. We ID’d her as Sarah Asher.”

My mother’s immediate reaction, though she tried to hide it, told me all I needed to know.

“I have a picture of the two of us as children. She went missing right before we moved to Richmond. We have no photos of me around that time at the house, and you never explained why we suddenly moved. I don’t remember much about that time. So, I need you to tell me everything you know about Sarah Asher.”

“Honey, we don’t…” my father started, before my mother cut him off. “No, there’s no point lying now.”

My mother looked at me with tears in her eyes. “We wanted to protect you. When you told us you were joining the FBI, I was so worried that someday you’d discover this, even though there was nothing to find.”

“What happened back then mom? To Sarah? To us? Why don’t I remember it?” I asked, leaning forward on the desk.

“You are Sarah were best friends. She was a few months younger than you, but we lived next door to each other. You were stuck like glue the moment the Ashers moved in.”

“Sarah went missing at the park, where was the park? Why was she there alone at 6 years old?”

“She wasn’t. You were with her. The park was just down the street from our houses, we could see it out the living room window. You two played there every day after school until supper.”

“If I was with her…why don’t I remember any of this?” I asked, confused.

“The doctor said it was trauma. Your mind was protecting itself from whatever happened at the park that day. When you two didn’t come home, Claire and I…Sarah’s mother, we went to get you. You were alone, sitting on the swings. You wouldn’t talk to us, wouldn’t tell us where Sarah went. We called the police, and I took you to the hospital. The only thing you said was that Sarah went away.”

“Is that why we moved?”

My parents looked at each other, and I knew they were hiding something else.

“What else happened?”

“Sweetie, if you don’t remember, maybe it’s best-“

“No. Tell me what happened in 1987. Why did we suddenly up and move?”

“There was…a letter,” my father answered.

“What kind of letter?”

“From…the man that took Sarah, or at least that’s what we assumed. He left it on our doorstep.”

“Do you still have the letter?”

“No, we gave it to the police, it’s probably in evidence somewhere.”

“I’ll have Garcia look for it. What did the letter say?”

My mother started crying then, and my father put his arm around her shoulder.

“It said that he would come back for you. We didn’t know what else to do. I took you to my mother’s while your father packed up, and we moved to Richmond a month later. We never heard anything from him again,” my mother answered, sniffling. 

Mentally I was creating a profile, but on the outside I just nodded. “Whatever happened that day…I saw it. I just need to remember.”

“Honey, we never wanted you to find out about it. The doctor said whatever caused you to supress the memory must have been traumatic.”

“I know, but he gave us Sarah’s body. He wants us to look into this.”

“You can’t be part of it,” my father said sternly.

“You sound like Hotch. I’m not officially on the case, I’m working from here.”

“Good. If that bastard is still out there…”

“It’s okay dad. Thank you, for finally telling me. Let’s get a coffee before you go home,” I said, turning off the recorder and leading them out of the office.

I called Hotch from Garcia’s office.

“Hotchner.”

“Hotch it’s Y/N, I just spoke with my parents. Sarah and I were at the park together the day she disappeared. Whatever happened there, I suppressed the memory.”

“Maybe we should have Reid try a memory exercise with you, try to help you remember.”

“Hotch, there’s more.”

I had already told Garcia, and she had pulled up a photocopy of the letter from the case files. Her grim expression showed me just how concerned she was.

“The unsub sent my parents a letter. Garcia’s sending you a copy. He threatened to come back for me, that’s why we moved.”

Hotch was silent on the other end of the line.

“Hotch?”

“Y/L/N get on the first plane here, I don’t want you out of our sight until we catch him.”

“Hotch that’s not necessary.”

“That’s an order, Y/L/N,” he said before hanging up.

I groaned and sank back into my chair. “Great, he’s gonna be hovering over me like a guard dog now.”

Penelope looked at me with her knowing smile and I smacked her. “Not the right time.”

“Right, yeah, threatening kidnapping murder guy, not the right time, ignore me.” She went back to her computer, booking my flight for me.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader remembers more about her past and what happened the day Sarah Asher disappeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one is a bit short, i'm sorry, but it's late and I wanted to get it finished before bed!

In less than 10 hours I was in Boston, jogging into the precinct we were using as base camp. Spencer hugged me the moment I came in, and I gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

“How ya doing, kid?” Morgan asked. I was a year older than Reid, but Morgan saw us both as young kids. 

“I’m good, glad to actually be here and helping.”

“Garcia didn’t find much in the old case files. We haven’t got much here either. They had nothing to go on. No fingerprints on the letter, either,” Prentiss informed me. I nodded, “My parents didn’t know much. Just that I wouldn’t say anything about what happened. They were scared, so they moved me away as soon as possible.”

“Reid is gonna do a memory exercise with you, try and get you to remember some of what happened that day,” Hotch said, coming out from an office. 

“What do we have for a profile?” I asked, sitting on top of the closest desk, where Reid sat in the chair. 

“Well we know he kidnapped Sarah, and probably within a few days he smothered her, but he kept the body. He left you at the park, but then sent a letter saying he was coming back for you. No trauma to Sarah’s body, so that rules out sexual sadist and pedophile,” Rossi said. 

“Sarah and I looked similar, if she wasn’t his type I wouldn’t be either.”

“Exactly, no reason to come back for you. Unless he thinks you knew something about him and he wanted to cover his tracks.”

“Then why leave me behind in the first place?”

“That’s what we still gotta figure out.”

I looked behind me at Spencer, “Ok Spence, let’s do that memory thing now. See what we can figure out.” Spencer nodded, taking me into what looked like a break room. It was empty, and I sat down on the couch. 

Hotch had come with us, as well as Prentiss, and they sat in some chairs nearby. Spencer sat on the table in front of me. 

“Y/N, close your eyes. Think back to when you were 7 years old. Try and remember the house in Boston you lived at,” Spencer began, and I did what he said. 

“I remember the house, it was blue.”

“Great, now try and picture the park down the street. What equipment did it have?”

“There was two sets of swings, a big jungle gym with a slide, a teeter totter.” 

“Picture yourself there with Sarah Asher. What did you guys do?”

“We liked to swing…and…play a game.”

“What kind of game?”

“Secret agent…we had codenames…pretended that the bigger kids were bad guys we were sent to spy on.”

“Were you playing that the day Sarah disappeared?”

“Yes…she was hiding behind a tree, I was under the jungle gym….”

“What happened next?”

“I…can’t remember…”

“Try, Y/N, picture Sarah behind the tree, who were you guys spying on?”

“This…man…he was sitting on the benches just outside the playground. We were spying on him.”

“What did he look like?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Okay, then what happened?”

“The man got up…he came over to me…I don’t remember what he said…then Sarah came over…” I opened my eyes then, unable to focus on the memory any longer.

“I’m sorry, I lost it.” I said to Spence, before looking at Hotch.

“It’s okay, that was a good start. We know he was watching you, he may have watched you before and you guys didn’t notice,” Spencer encouraged, standing up and helping me stand as well. 

“It’s late, let’s get checked into the hotel before they give our rooms away. We’ll all meet back here at 0800,” Hotch instructed, leaving the room. Prentiss followed, and I left with Reid. 

We all rode to the hotel together in two SUVs, and got ourselves checked into our rooms. Reid was next door to me, and he waved goodnight as he went into his room. I threw my go bag on the floor as I entered, completely wiped out from the day. I was ready to hit the hay when a knock came at the door. 

I sighed and looked through the peephole, only to see Hotch. I quickly opened the door, and looked at him confused.

“Hey Hotch…”

“Y/L/N, sorry to interrupt, I know you’re probably going to bed,” he said.

“I was about to, yeah, but what’s up?”

“Can I come in?”

“Sure,” I said, moving out of the way as he entered. I closed the door behind him and followed him into the main part of the room.

“I don’t like you being here, so close to this, but I don’t think we have another choice. You’re the best way of finding out what happened to Sarah Asher,” he explained, and I nodded. 

“Yeah, my dad didn’t want me here either.”

“I’m worried this unsub might be trying to lure you out.”

“After 20 years? Why would he do that? Why wait so long?”

“Maybe he didn’t know where you were until recently.” I nodded, thinking of all the ways my presence in Washington had become more noticeable. 

“So what do you want me to do?”

“Stay close to the team, I wanna keep you out of the field as much as possible. I don’t want the unsub to know you’re here.”

“And what happens if he finds out?”

“We’ll deal with that if it happens.” I nodded again, and sat on the bed, mentally and physically exhausted.

“How are Jack and Haley?” I asked, to change the subject.

“They’re fine, they’re staying with Haley’s sister for a while, until the divorce papers go through,” he answered, hands in his pockets.

“I’m sorry, this must be a rough time.”

“I’ve accepted it, Haley needed more from me that I couldn’t give her,” he answered honestly. “How are you doing, Y/N?”

“I’m fine.”

“I’ve been fine before, need to talk about it?”

“I woke up this morning expecting another case, and suddenly I’m digging up my past about a dead little girl that I knew and an unsub who may be obsessed with me. It’s just a lot to process in one day.”

“I know, but we’ll find him. We’ll find the truth,” Hotch promised, and I nodded. He walked over to where I sat and put his hand on my shoulder, forcing me to look up at him. I’d had a crush on Aaron Hotchner since the day I started in the BAU. Penelope knew of course, though Reid didn’t, and she teased me constantly about it, especially now that he and Haley were divorced. I felt myself begin to blush looking into his eyes, but he quickly drew me out of it.

“Have a good sleep, Y/N. Try and get some rest.”

“You too.” He smiled at me, one of his wonderful, rare, smiles, before leaving to go back to his room. I locked the door behind him and contemplated a cold shower, but my exhaustion won out and I passed out fully clothed on the bed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The BAU team investigate more into the case, looking into Reader's past and finding more clues as to what the unsub wants.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited that people are actually reading this and liking it! Can't wait to keep writing and evolve this story! I have so many plans.

I was up early, despite passing out last night, so I was already downstairs in the lobby drinking a coffee while I waited for the team. Hotch was the first to come down, which didn’t surprise me as he was usually the first at the office as well. He grabbed himself a coffee and sat down across from me. 

“Sleep well?” He asked, and I nodded. 

“I don’t even remember sleeping, just waking up.”

Hotch smiled a bit, which of course made me blush slightly. “Yes, you had a long day yesterday. How are you feeling this morning?”

“Determined. I wanna catch this guy.”

“We’ll find him,” Hotch said confidently. I nodded, sipping my coffee in contemplation. Hotch leaned forward in his chair, closer to me, drawing my attention to him again. “He won’t hurt you, I won’t let him.” I just nodded, unsure what to make of this new Hotch. Before he could say anything else, Rossi and Prentiss came down into the lobby, laughing about something Rossi had just said to her. Hotch leaned back immediately.

“Morning guys,” Prentiss said, plopping down next to me on the couch. 

“Morning bella,” Rossi said, kissing the top of my head as he sat next to Hotch. 

I said my good morning, and Hotch nodded. I saw Rossi looking at Hotch, but couldn’t read what it meant. Eventually JJ, Morgan, and Spencer made their way downstairs, and we went back to base camp. 

“Do we have a current location for Brian Asher?” Hotch asked, and JJ nodded. “Yeah, Garcia sent it over, he’s still local.”

“Good, JJ, Prentiss, Morgan, I want you guys to go interview him, see what he remembers from back then. Reid, Y/L/N, go to the park where Sarah went missing, see what you can remember. Rossi and I will talk to the detectives from the case, see if they had any suspects. Let’s go team,” Hotch directed, and we all broke off into our specific groups. 

I drove to the park, while Spence looked over more stuff from the case file. “You gonna be okay with this?” He asked, and I glanced at him as I drove. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just wanna help find this guy.”

“You blocked the memory from that day for a reason, your mind is still trying to suppress it. Maybe it’s better not knowing.”

I shook my head. “No, I need to know. Whatever happened that day, it changed the course of my life, if I don’t try and remember…”

Spence patted my knee gently, “Turn left at the lights.” I did as he instructed, and suddenly I was on the street from my childhood. Despite not remembering much of it before yesterday, it all came back to me. Most of the layout had remained the same, and I saw my little blue house. 

“The Asher’s lived in that house,” Spence said, pointing to a cream coloured house next to mine. It was closer to the park, I noted. We drove to the end of the street, where the park was located, and I parked along the road. As we got out, I noticed the park seemed different than my memory.

“The jungle gym looks so much smaller now.”

“Well, you were 7 last time you saw it, probably felt like a castle back then. Come on, let’s go check it out.” We walked across the grass to the playground, and I looked around, making geographic notes of where everything was located. 

“You said you were hiding under the jungle gym, try going to where that was.” I did as instructed, fitting myself under the tiny structure. I sat behind one post, and realized it wasn’t right, so I moved. I did this a couple times before deciding on the right location. “Here. I can see the benches and the trees clearly from here.”

Spencer came under the jungle gym with me, and looked around. “It’s a good spot. You’d be able to see Sarah hiding, and the man who was watching you. Stay here.” He got up and went over to the benches, sitting down on one, then getting up and sitting on the other.

“I can see you from this bench, but I can’t see the trees clearly. He wouldn’t have a clear view of Sarah.” He got up again, walking over to the trees, moving behind them and looking around. 

“Sarah could see the benches and the jungle gym. So you both had a good sight on the unsub, but he could only see you.”

I drug myself out from under the equipment and met him halfway. “So he wasn’t watching Sarah. Then why take her?” I asked, looking around. 

“Do you remember anything else from that day?” I closed my eyes, trying to envision myself as a child. I watched as the man got up from the bench, walking towards me, and Sarah running from the trees. She got to me before her did, and I saw him say something to us, but I couldn’t remember what it was. Sarah said something back to him, and then they were gone. I opened my eyes. I was still missing part of the story.

“He spoke to us, but I don’t remember what he said.”

“Do you remember what he looked like?”

“I think so.”

“Okay, let’s get back to the station and get a sketch artist. This will give us something more to go on, especially if Hotch and Rossi can get a suspect list.” 

When we got back to the precinct, Hotch and Rossi were back already. 

“What did you find out?” Hotch asked, and I let Reid answer, going to sit at a desk.

“We know the unsub had a clear view of Y/N, but not of Sarah Asher. He spoke to them before taking Sarah, but we don’t know what he said. Y/N does remember what he looked like.”

Rossi went to talk to the Chief and ask for a sketch artist, and Hotch started relaying what they learned about potential suspects.

“They didn’t really have any, a couple ex-cons, and obviously they looked into Brian Asher. This unsub was probably a familiar sight in the neighbourhood or someone would have noticed him hanging around the park.” He laid out pictures of the original suspects, but none of them stood out. I just shook my head.

“None of these seem like the right guy.” Hotch nodded and called Garcia, asking her to pull up names of single men who lived on the street surrounding the park in 1987. Rossi came back with the sketch artist and gave them the details I could remember. White, middle-aged, light brown hair, short but not cropped, possibly small brown eyes, wider face with a thick jawline, tall though I couldn’t give an accurate height, and no distinguishing features on his face. Based on my poor recollection, he could be almost any middle-aged white man in America.  
I sighed out of frustration and got up to go outside for some fresh air. No one followed me, which I was thankful for. I needed time alone to think. What had he said to me that day? Why did he take Sarah and not me? What did he do to us? 

Time must have flown by because eventually I heard someone come sit down next to me, and I turned to see Hotch. “Of course,” I thought to myself, because for some reason he was haunting me during this case.

He didn’t say anything, just sat next to me, his arms resting on his knees, looking out at the street as cars came by and police cruisers pulled in. 

“What if I can’t remember? What happens if I can’t help, and we have nothing to go on?” I asked eventually, and Hotch looked at me.

“Then we will find something else, no unsub is perfect, he made a mistake somewhere.”

“What if the mistake was me? And I’m useless.”

“This isn’t your fault, Y/N. You were a child.”

“I’m not a child now. I’m a profiler, I should be able to get this guy.” I put my face in my hands, feeling tears of frustration begin to well up in my eyes. I was a crying, though I hid it well from the team. Penelope had seen me cry out of anger when I’d stormed into her office to let out my feelings. Reid had seen me crying when my last boyfriend had broken up with me and I ran to Reid’s apartment. I refused to let my boss see me cry. 

Hotch put his hand on my back, rubbing it lightly. I let him for a moment, before I sat up and looked at him. 

“Hotch…I…” I began, before a black SUV pulled up, and Prentiss, JJ, and Morgan got out. Hotch and I stood up to greet them. 

“Hey, everything okay?” Prentiss asked, and I nodded. 

“What did Mr. Asher say?” Hotch asked as we all walked into the building.

“Not much. Nothing useful. Wife shut down after Sarah didn’t turn up, put her in the hospital a year or so later, after she died he sold the house and moved across town,” Morgan answered. “How about you guys? Any luck at the park?”

“I couldn’t remember much,” I said sadly. 

“She remembered a lot. We have a general description and a rough sketch. We know the unsub was targeting Y/N specifically,” Hotch butted in, almost like he was defending me to myself. 

Morgan patted me on the back as he went to chat with Reid, JJ following him, and Prentiss started chatting with Rossi. 

“You need to stop putting yourself down. No one on this team would be doing any better than you are if they were in your shoes. It’s only been a day, give it more time,” Hotch said to me quietly, and I just nodded. “What were you going to say to me outside?”

I blushed again, and just shook my head. “Oh, I don’t even remember. Nothing important I guess.” I thought he would leave it at that, but he leaned down to whisper in my ear.

“You know, I’m a profiler as well. And I can tell when someone’s lying. I’ve been watching you blush for the past two days,” he whispered, before pushing a lock of my Y/H/C behind my ear. “We’ll continue this later,” he added, pulling away as Morgan came up to us. 

“Garcia got a list of names of dudes that lived alone in the area, but we’re still working on getting photos up. There’s about 100.”

“Good work, I wanna go to the dump site. Prentiss, Y/L/N, let’s go. Everyone else, start pulling up photos of everyone on this list. I want them when we get back,” Hotch ordered, and Emily and I followed him out to one of the SUVs. 

The dump site was fairly routine. The body was found in a small ditch just off a hiking trail, one that was commonly used by many hikers and joggers in the area. Prentiss was poking around, trying to find some evidence that may have been missed, while I was looking around, trying to decide if I knew the area or not. 

“With the amount of foot traffic this area gets, the body must have been dumped overnight before it was found in the morning. This guy probably still lives in the area, might even live in the same house since no one ever suspected him,” Emily said, pushing aside a bush. 

“Anything look familiar?” Hotch asked me, and I shook my head. 

‘Never been here before. From what I remember, my parents weren’t really the exercise type.”

“So the dump site has no significance with you, but it might to the unsub. Y/L/N, theories?”

“Well with the care he took with keeping the body this long, and dumping it where people would find it immediately, he didn’t want Sarah’s body to sit around. But at the same time he kept it for 20 years. Maybe he started to feel remorse?”

“Possible, but unlikely. He kept the body because he knew it would draw attention back to the case when it turned up. Have you done any press conferences lately?”

“No, not in the last month or so.”

“Interviews at all?” I shook my head. “I’m not really the one they wanna talk to.”

“I think the unsub saw you somehow, read your name or saw your face, and he knew you were still around. That probably set his plan into motion.”

“What plan? It still doesn’t make any sense. Why leave me when I was a defenceless girl, only to try and come back for me when I’m a grown woman with a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?” I asked, making a pair of fists with my hands for emphasis. I heard Prentiss laugh at my pose from behind Hotch. 

“Maybe he never intended to take you as a child. Maybe he was waiting for you to get older.”

“Would have been smarter to leave Sarah alone, my family wouldn’t have moved.”

“But maybe you would have. Taking Sarah and keeping the body meant that he could control the case. If he was waiting for you to come back into his life, using the body of a missing friend  
would certainly do it,” Prentiss said, brushing her knees off of dirt as she came to stand beside Hotch. 

“All of this is too much,” I replied, putting my hand to my head. I could feel a headache starting. 

“Let’s go back to the precinct and take a look at the photos they dug up,” Hotch said. We all piled back into the SUV and began driving back. I was staring out the window in the back seat, when  
something caught my eye.

“Stop!” I yelled, and Hotch slammed on the brakes. I jumped out of the car, rushing over to a tree just aside of the path. Hotch and Prentiss got out and yelled after me. 

As I got to the tree, I saw what had drawn my attention. A hat was stuck into the branches of the tree. It was small, something a child would wear, and I recognized it.

“This is my hat. I remember this, I wore it all the time when it was windy to stop my hair from blowing around everywhere.”

“Think the unsub put it here?” Prentiss asked, looking around. 

“He must have. I must have been wearing it that day, and he took it.” I flipped the hat over, and noticed a piece of paper stuck inside of it. “Guys, there’s something.”

I pulled the paper out of the hat and unfolded it, dropping the hat when I read what it said.

“What? What is it?” Hotch asked, taking the note from me.

The note read: “Hello Agent Y/L/N, I’m glad you came home.”

“Back in the car, let’s go,” Hotch commanded, dragging me back to the SUV while Prentiss followed behind, gun drawn as a precaution. We drove back to the precinct in silence. I didn’t know what to say. He knew I was here, he knew I was investigating the case, and he had confirmed what we suspected: he had been waiting for me.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader and Hotch get closer, while the unsub continues to taunt the team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for the love, I'm really excited about this story. I just finished watching episode 5x09 so I'm a bit of an emotional wreck, but I got this chapter finished!

Hotch dropped Prentiss off at the precinct, but drove me back to the hotel. I could only imagine what she was telling the others. I wanted to object to Hotch, but I couldn’t find words. My mind was going over the note again and again. He knew me, knew my name, knew my job at the FBI, and he knew I’d find the body. He’d been waiting for me, like Hotch said. 

I snapped out of my thoughts when Hotch opened my door. 

“We’re here,” he said, and I got out. He walked beside me as we went inside, hand hovering over my lower back, guiding me. I felt like a child, and normally I would have spoken up, but today I decided I wanted to be protected. 

Hotch led me up to my room, and came inside as I walked over to the bed and sat down on it. 

“Y/N?”

“yeah?”

“Tell me what you need.”

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “I just need…to process this, I guess.” Hotch went over to my mini fridge and grabbed a bottle of water, cracking it open and handing it to me. I took a long chug, feeling my throat tighten with despair. I coughed to try and cover it, “You should go back to the team, you can send me any photos that might match the sketch, I’ll look at them.”

Hotch knelt down in front of me, taking the water bottle and putting it on the ground. My hands felt empty, and I didn’t know what to do with them. 

“Y/N, it’s gonna be okay. Tell me what’s worrying you,” he asked, grabbing my twitching hands in his own. I could feel myself begin to cry, and I looked up at the ceiling to try and keep the tears from falling.

“I just don’t know what he wants from me, and it scares me. Not having a profile to work with, it’s like he’s a ghost that’s haunting me.”

“We’ll call Ghostbusters if we need to,” he said jokingly, and I laughed a bit. “We won’t let him get to you…I won’t let him get to you.” I looked down at him, staring in his brown eyes. I don’t know what came over me, but I suddenly leaned forward and pressed my lips against his. I held them there for a moment, before pulling back suddenly. 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I don’t know what…sir, I’m so so sorry.”

His hands moved from mine to cup my face, forcing me to look at him. “Y/N, it’s okay.”

“It is?”

Hotch leaned forward, kissing me with purpose. I gasped into his lips, my mouth opening, and I felt his tongue touch mine. When I grabbed his jacket, he pulled away, staring into my eyes, and it felt like he was searching my soul. 

“I have to get back to the team,” he said finally, and I nodded. “Right, of course.”

I let go of his jacket, and he stood up. “We’ll send you any photos we think are promising. Keep the door locked, and call me if you need anything.”

“Yes sir.”

Hotch gave me a last look before leaving, and it took me a moment to get up and lock the door behind him. 

“What the hell did I just do?” I asked myself, going to the mini fridge and pulling out a couple tiny bottles of vodka. I needed a drink, desperately. 

When I was decently tipsy I decided to take a shower, if the team needed me I couldn’t exactly show up drunk off my ass. The warm water helped, relaxing my muscles and letting me have a good cry in privacy. 

I joined the FBI because I always had an innate sense of justice, but now I wondered if the reason I joined was because somewhere in my head I remembered Sarah, and I wanted to find her. Whatever it was about me that made this unsub target me, it had gotten Sarah killed. Even though I was only a child myself, the guilt of her death was weighing on my heart.   
Eventually I had to get out of the shower, and as I was towel drying my hair, my phone rang. I quickly grabbed it, seeing that it was Reid calling, and answered.

“Hey Reid.”

“Hey Y/N, we’re sending you are preliminary options from the lists of single males in the area in 1987. Can you look at them and let us know if anyone triggers something?”

“Of course, send them over, I’ll get right to it. Thanks, Reid.” We hung up and I waited for a notification of email. Once I got it, I almost tossed my phone with the speed I grabbed it and opened the email. I scanned through the photos, about 35 of them. Out of the original 100 it was better, but still way too many. I scrolled past the first few quickly, they definitely weren’t right. A couple made me pause and look closer, but they still didn’t fit. By the time I got to the end no one had stood out, and I threw my phone in anger.

“Who the fuck is this guy?!” I yelled to myself, running my hands through my wet hair. A knock came to the door then, and I immediately tensed. I walked over quietly, the carpet silencing my footsteps. I looked through the peephole, and saw no one. I grabbed my gun from the dresser, holding it in front of me as I unlocked the door. I threw it open quickly, and checked down the hall both ways. There wasn’t anyone there. I lowered the gun, and looked down at the ground. There was a box.

I went back and grabbed my phone, pushing one of my speed dials, not that it mattered as they were all for my team. I ended up getting Rossi.

“Y/L/N, did you get a chance to look at the photos?”

“Yes, Rossi this is important. Someone dropped a box at my hotel room.”

“Do not touch the box, we’re heading there right now.” He hung up, and I grabbed a change of clothes and quickly got dressed. Safe to say my buzz was officially killed.

I waited in the open door, watching the box and making sure no one came near it. I heard the team as they all piled out of the elevator. Morgan waved me out of the room into the hall, and I stood by Reid, who put his arm around me. Morgan had bomb squad knowledge, so he took a peek, though I knew they would call the actual bomb squad if necessary.

“I don’t think it’s armed,” Morgan said, and I nodded.

“Tell me exactly what happened,” Hotch said, and I felt his eyes watching me intensely. 

“I was in the shower, when I got out Reid called, so I was looking over the photos. None of them are right. That’s when a knock came to the door. I was…a bit paranoid, so I was slow to answer it.   
I couldn’t see anyone, and no one was in the hall when I opened the door. Just the box.”

“We have to assume the box is from the unsub,” Rossi said.

“Which means he knows where you are,” Hotch continued, and the sense of fear I felt finding the note came back. 

“If it’s from him, it’s not a bomb. I should open it.”

“We aren’t taking chances,” Hotch said, and I pulled away from Reid. 

“He waited 20 years, you really think he’d wait that long, do all this, just to blow me up with an obviously packaged bomb? He’s not like that.”

“Hotch, she’s right. Whatever’s in the box, he wants her to see it,” Morgan defended me. When he didn’t say anything else, I walked over to Morgan and picked up the box. I pulled the lid off and dropped It, looking inside. 

“It’s…fabric,” I said, pulling it out of the box to look at it. A note fell to the floor as I looked at the fabric. It was a girls shirt, small, pink, with a large flower on the front. I recognized it immediately as belonging to Sarah Asher. Morgan grabbed the note from the ground and read it aloud.

“It was always meant to be you”

I dropped the box and the shirt, as if they had electrocuted me. 

“Rossi, go check us all out, we need to switch locations. Everyone else, go pack your stuff. We’ll meet in the lobby in 15 minutes, do not be late,” Hotch ordered, and everyone went to do as he said. “Morgan, grab the evidence, I want as little contamination as possible.” Morgan did as he said, giving me a look that could only show how worried he was. Then he went to his room to pack.  
Hotch dragged me into my room and shut the door. He went about grabbing my stuff and putting it back in my go bag. I just stood next to the door where he left me. 

“Y/N…Y/N!” I looked at him as he yelled. 

“Focus, stay with me here. Is there anything else in here that’s yours?” I looked around, and shook my head. Hotch grabbed my bag, and opened the door, taking my hand and pulling me along with him. We went to his room, and repeated the same process. I stood by the door while he packed his stuff. He got a call at one point, I think it was from Haley, but he kept it brief and hung up.   
We met the team down in the lobby within 15 minutes. Everyone knew that now was not the time to piss off Hotch. Rossi had gotten us all checked out and grabbed his stuff, so we got into the SUVs and drove back to the precinct. 

Rossi filled the Chief in on what was going on, and Morgan grabbed a couple evidence bags to put the box, note, and shirt into. JJ and Emily were at the board, adding details and calling Garcia. Reid went and got me a glass of water, and I sat down at a desk. 

“Y/N, look at me,” Hotch said, kneeling in front of me. I did as he said, but I don’t think I really saw him. 

“I meant what I said earlier. I won’t let him touch you. We’re gonna put you in protective custody.”

“No…”

“Y/N it’s necessary to keep you safe.”

“We don’t know what he’ll do if he can’t get to me. Right now he’s taunting me, taunting us. Telling us he knows where we are, he’s a step ahead. You take me out of the game it throws everything off.”

“You’re not a pawn in a game.”

“Yes I am. His game. We need to figure out what it is so we can catch him. Double me up with Prentiss or JJ, station officers outside the hotel room door, I don’t care, do whatever, but don’t make me hide from him.”

Hotch looked like he wanted to scold me, but he sighed and stood up. “You’re right, our best chance to catch him is to keep you active in the investigation. But you are not to go anywhere alone. No breaks outside for fresh air, and you aren’t going to any scenes unless they’ve previously been investigated by the team.”

“Yes sir.” I saw him clench his jaw, then he walked away, finding JJ to book another hotel for us. Reid came back with my water, and I sipped at it. 

“Y/N…are you okay?” he asked, pulling up a chair to sit across from me. He was so close our knees touched, but I didn’t mind. 

“Honestly? No…I thought I could handle this, but now…I’m not so sure.”

“You wanna hear some facts about Boston?”

I smiled, “Actually yeah, hit me with them.”

“Well, in 1919 a storage tank full of molasses burst and killed 21 people and injured 100 others.”

“What a way to go…death by molasses…”

“Mhm, and the first ever Thanksgiving took place in Boston. It happened in 1621, and it lasted three days.”

“Did they have turkey?”

“No, mostly they ate berries and vegetables, and some seafood caught on the shore.”

“Damn…three whole days and no turkey. That sucks…”

We were laughing when Hotch came back over, and I could tell he was relieved to see me smiling. 

“JJ booked us another hotel. We’re all heading there now. It’s been a long day, we’ll get some rest and in the morning we’ll put together a profile,” he told us, and Reid stood up, offering me his hand in aid. We all drove to the new hotel, and JJ checked us in. Hotch went over to talk with her and the front desk woman, while Reid tried to show me how to pull a dime from behind someone’s ear. I wasn’t good at it. 

JJ came over and handed everyone key cards, and I went to follow her before Hotch called me. 

“Y/L/N, you’re rooming with me.”

“Excuse me, sir?”

“I need you safe, and the safest place is where I can see you. Let’s go,” he pushed the button for the elevator and we got on. I had no reaction, there was nothing I could say that would encompass what I was feeling at that moment. 

I was going to be sharing a room with my boss, the man I’d had a crush on for over a year, who I kissed in my hotel room earlier, and who kissed me back. The number of things that were wrong with this situation was astronomical.

Hotch let us into the room, and I sighed in relief when I saw there were two beds. I did not need this to turn into a romantic comedy where the stars are forced to share a bed. Hotch took the bed closest to the door, naturally, so I put my bag on the other bed.

“You’re okay with this, right?” He asked, opening his bag and pulling out his work shirts to hang them.

“Sure.”

“Y/N, what happened earlier-“ he began, but I cut him off.

“Oh, that, no that was just…I was just feeling really emotional. It won’t happen again sir.”

I felt him come up behind me, and I turned to find him face to face with me.

“Please stop calling me sir.”

“Why?”

“Just call me Aaron, or Hotch.”

“Okay Hotch.” There was no way I was gonna call him Aaron. I saw his eyes look down to my lips, but then he moved away, grabbed his bag, and went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. I let out a small groan. I didn’t think I was gonna spend this case running from a unsub while fighting with my feelings for my boss. 

While he was in the bathroom I quickly changed into my pyjamas, thankful that I packed innocuous pants and an oversized shirt. I crawled under my covers before he came back into the main room, ready to sleep. Hotch came out wearing a t-shirt and a pair of boxers, though I made sure not to look. He tossed his bag down and turned off the lights, getting into his bed.

“Goodnight Y/N.”

“Goodnight.”

I’m pretty sure I didn’t sleep a wink that night.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hotch and Reader have a steamy morning, before they discover a breakthrough in the case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special shoutout to my best friend who has been encouraging me to actually write and put this out there.
> 
> ALSO this chapter has the first bit of smut I've ever written for people to read, so I chickened out a bit and kept it tame, but don't worry, the good shit is coming later!
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has been following the story and liking it!

I must have fallen asleep at some point, because I woke up to Hotch’s alarm going off. I groaned and glanced at the clock on the nightstand, seeing that it was 6am. No wonder Hotch was always early to work. I heard him get up and go into the bathroom, and a minute later the sound of the shower turning on. I closed my eyes trying to get a few more minutes of sleep. 

I dozed off again, and woke when Hotch came out of the shower and called my name. I turned over to look at him, and regretted it. He was still wet from the shower, with a towel wrapped around his waist. 

“Um....”

“Sorry I left my pants, didn’t want you to wake up and be shocked.”

“Too late,” I replied, yawning. Hotch walked over and grabbed his pants, and I tried to secretly admire the view. For an older man he still had a fantastic body, well-toned and beautiful. I knew he was a jogger, and noticed his legs were nice and fit. I mentally groaned, knowing that the visual of naked wet Hotch was gonna haunt my daydreams for a while. 

“I can feel you staring,” he said suddenly, snapping me out of my fantasies. 

He was turned to me, one hand holding his pants and the other on the towel keeping it secure.

“Sorry sir, I’m still tired.”

Hotch’s face darkened, “what did I say about calling me sir?”

“Not to...”

“Exactly.” He stalked forward to the end of my bed, dropping his pants on the covers. 

I sat up, suddenly excited and anticipating what he would do. 

“Your teasing isn’t making it easy to be professional,” he scolded.

“What teasing?”

“You know what you’ve been doing. Ever since you started at the BAU.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said defensively. 

Hotch stared at me and grabbed the covers, pulling them off of me. I grabbed at them but he was stronger. 

“Hey!”

He grabbed my leg and pulled me down towards him, and he was stronger than I thought he was. I looked up at him from where I was now, tucked up at the end of the bed, my feet touching his legs.

“I see you watching me through my office windows. The way you blush whenever I compliment you, every time you call me sir makes my blood boil. That day you came to work in that tiny dress, just flaunting your body for everyone to see.”

I nodded, unsure what to say. It was all true, but I hadn’t realized he noticed. 

“Tell me to stop,” he said, and shook my head.

“No...” I whispered.

He leaned down and captured my mouth with his, his hands flat on either side of my head, pinning me with his body. His tongue slipped into my mouth, and I moaned loudly, running my hands up his arms and over his shoulders. 

He pulled away from my mouth, kissing down my neck and inhaling. 

“Aaron...” I moaned into his ear, closing my eyes. My hands travelled down his back and reached the towel at his waist. He pulled away from me, and I was gasping slightly for air.

“This is inappropriate,” he said sternly, and I nodded.

“I’m your supervisor, I’m 10 years older than you. You’re in an emotional state and I’m taking advantage of you.”

“No, no you are not.” But I could see he was already pulling back. He grabbed his pants and went back into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. 

I groaned and threw my head back against the bed, my legs now hanging over the end. I grabbed my phone and sent Penelope a text, letting her know we needed to have a girl talk ASAP. 

Hotch came out of the bathroom another 10 minutes later, and part of me wondered what he had been doing that took so long. I was ready for my turn, clothes and toiletries in my arms. I snuck in and closed the door, turning the shower on as cold as I could stand.

It didn’t help, I kept imagining his hands, the way his body felt, the way his lips tasted, his breath on my neck. 

I touched myself gently, experimenting, deciding if I was really in the mood. Could I get off quickly with my hot boss in the next room? 

Yes, yes I could. 

I rubbed at my clit gently, before lowering my hand and pushing two fingers inside. My other hand was on the wall, keeping me balanced. With how turned on I was, I managed to cum fairly quickly, biting my lip to quiet my moans as I reached my peak. The thought that Hotch may have been doing the same thing just before me almost made me go again, but I finished showering and got out, not wanting to take too much time.

I got dressed and threw on a bit of concealer and mascara, brushing my teeth quickly. 

When I went back into the main room, Hotch was adjusting his tie, fully dressed and ready to get to work. I looked at the clock, noticing it was only 7. The team wouldn’t be ready to work for another hour. 

“So...what do we do while we wait for the others?” I asked sheepishly, putting my pyjamas away and making the bed up slightly. 

“I thought we could get breakfast.”

“Food sounds good,” I replied, grabbing my gun holster and putting it on. My badge and cellphone went into the pocket of my jacket as I put it on. 

“Your tie is crooked, come here,” I said, walking over and grabbing it, pulling it away from his neck and fixing it’s placement. 

He stared down at me the whole time, his left hand coming to rest on my hip. 

“There, all nice and proper,” I said, smiling up at him.

“Y/N...”

“I know, I know. Let’s just catch this asshole and we can figure the rest out.”

He nodded, and we headed out. 

The hotel had a small restaurant on the main floor, and they went to sit us near a window. 

“A table away from the window, please,” Hotch requested, and I shrugged at the waitress. He was being overly protective. We sat down and she went to get us some water to start with.

“Worried he’s watching us here?” I asked, and Hotch nodded. “He found you before, it’s only a matter of time before he finds you here.”

“Hotch, you know it’s not your job to protect me, right?”

He glared at me across the table. “It’s my job on so many different levels. For one, I’m your boss. Your safety is important to keeping the team safe. For another, I called you out here from   
Quantico, and this...thing we have is another.”

“This thing that we have but aren’t supposed to have?”

“Yes.”

The waitress came back to take our order. Hotch got toast, bacon, and eggs, and of course coffee. I contemplated getting something like fruit to appear dainty, but I was starving so I ordered pancakes and coffee.

“Hotch I know there are more reasons to not do this than are for it, but, I’m game to try.”

He watched me as the waitress came back to pour our coffee. When she left with a flirty smile to him I gave her a dirty look.

“What?” Hotch asked.

“Looks like I have competition.”

“There’s no competition.” He gave me a brief smile, before sipping his coffee and pulling out his phone to look over information from the case.

“I had them put a rush on prints from the box contents, we should be getting results back today,” he informed me, and I nodded. 

“He won’t be in the system,” I said confidently, “Guy this organized, planning for 20 years, he knows he’s not gonna get caught that easily.”

“You’re probably right, but at least we’ll have something.”

“I wanna go back to the park, I think if I spend more time there I’ll remember more. Maybe not from that day, but from before. He must have been watching for a while.”

“We’ll take Morgan with us for backup,” Hotch said as our breakfast arrived. My phone dinged with a message, and I looked at it to see it was from Penelope.

_oh my god what happened tell me everything this better be hottie hotch related_

I rolled my eyes and texted her back, _maybe….talk later_

I knew it would drive her crazy not knowing, but it was fun to torment Garcia. Hotch’s phone rang and he answered it quickly. “Hey Haley...yeah I’m just having breakfast…yeah put him on.”

I smiled, knowing it was Jack wanting to talk to his dad. Jack was only 2 so they probably didn’t have great conversations, but I know Hotch enjoyed speaking with him anyway. Despite how much he hid it, I knew separating from Haley had been hard, and with the divorce finally settled he seemed much sadder. 

“Hey buddy, I’m just having some eggs and toast. What did you have for breakfast? Rice Krispies, wow. That sounds yummy. What are you doing today?” 

I ate my pancakes, enjoying listening to Hotch and Jack talk. He let his guard down the most when Jack was around, and you could see the real Aaron Hotchner. He was smiling as he spoke to his son, and it made me smile knowing how happy he was. 

I stared out the window that was across the restaurant from us, watching people walking by. Part of me wondered if I had ever knew those people, though statistically it was improbable. 

“Okay, I love you buddy, talk later,” Hotch hung up with Jack. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize for being a good dad, Hotch.” I stuffed some more pancake into my mouth, and noticed Hotch watching me. “Sorry…I’m not exactly ladylike when I eat.”

“Don’t apologize for being adorable, Y/N,” he said, using my own words against me. I wanted to say more, but I noticed Rossi and Prentiss coming into the restaurant. They sat next to us and we chatted, not about the case for the first time in the last few days. Rossi made a joke about trying to find his next wife while we were in Boston, and Emily smacked his arm. 

Right around 8 the rest of the team showed up in the lobby, so we finished our meals and headed out. Hotch had given JJ and Reid the task of getting the fingerprint results back, and looking into the possibility of people who had moved away in 1987 and had come back recently. It wasn’t a lead, but since we didn’t have any of those we were going with checking everything.   
Rossi and Prentiss stayed behind at the hotel to look at security camera footage from the hallway to try and get a good angle on the unsub. Hotch, Morgan, and I went back to the park. 

As I got out, something felt wrong, but I blamed it on my nerves. They’d been wonky ever since the case started. 

“I wanna canvas the whole park area, see which houses have the best view of the jungle gym,” Morgan said, wandering off. Hotch stayed close to me, which I felt was unnecessary, but I appreciated it anyway.

“My mom said Sarah and I played here every day before dinner. If we had a routine, it wouldn’t be hard for the unsub to watch us and learn it.”

“Just take your time, try and see what you can remember.”

I walked around the perimeter of the playground, trying to visualize myself there as a child. As I walked around, Hotch followed at a distance, but close enough to get to me if needed. “Sarah liked the swings…she always wanted me to push her higher. One time she fell off and I told her I was never pushing her again. I didn’t want her to get hurt.”

I went and sat on one of the swings, looking around. “We weren’t allowed in the wooded area, mom was afraid we’d get lost or hurt and no one would see us. The farthest we went were those trees,” I pointed, and Hotch looked over at them. I looked behind me where my old house and Sarah’s was. “Mom said she could see us from the living room…”

I grabbed my phone and dialed my parents number, and practically started ranting when I heard my mother answer the phone.

“Mom, you said you used to watch us at the park from the window. Did you ever notice anyone else that was there all the time, a man, might have been a neighbour or someone who had kids playing?”

“Honey, this was 20 years ago…I don’t…I don’t know, I guess some men were hanging around, people that lived nearby.”

“Was there ever someone who was there but didn’t have any kids with him?”

“No nobody, other than a couple who were just walking by. Honey are you at the park right now?”

“Yeah mom, I’m trying to remember more.” I looked around, and noticed something Reid and I hadn’t before. The grass surrounding the playground was mowed. 

“Mom, do you remember who took care of the park? Like who cut the grass and watered the flowers?”

“Um…yes actually, Mr. Forrester. He was the groundskeeper, I don’t remember what company he worked for. Sweet man…Y/N you aren’t suggesting that he…?”

“No mom, I mean, maybe. But if he was here a lot he may have more insight into who else hung around the park. Thanks mom.” I hung up and looked at Hotch.

“We got a lead.”

I called Garcia in the car on the way to the precinct. 

“You’ve reached the one, the only, fantastical Penelope Garcia, how can I change your life?” she answered, and I saw Morgan roll his eyes.

“Garcia, I got a name I need you to look up. Last name is Forrester, he was a groundskeeper at the park in 1987, probably for a while before that. See what you can find for us.”

“Can do girlfriend.” I heard her typing away.

“Carl Forrester, born 1954, was a groundskeeper with Woodwork National from 1980-2001 when he hurt his knee and took up an office job.”

“Tell me he still lives in Boston.”

“He sure does, I’ll text you the address and GPS location.”

“Thanks, babygirl,” Morgan called from the backseat as I hung up. 

I pulled up the navigation system and began typing in the address Penelope had forwarded. That’s when I felt the impact, and heard the sound of brakes and glass smashing, and suddenly everything was upside down and spinning.

I smashed my head on the door as we went rolling, the SUV finally coming to a stop upside down. Agents don’t wear seatbelts in case they need to get out in a hurry, so I was now sitting on the roof of the car. My head felt like it was on fire, and I groaned as I opened my eyes and looked around. I could see Morgan in the backseat, unconscious, but breathing. I looked over at Hotch, who was leaning against the driver’s door, blood coming from his forehead. 

I reached for my phone, dialing 911 while trying to push myself into a better position. 

“Ow…” I groaned, noting that my arm hurt all over. 

“911 what’s your emergency?”

“My name is Agent Y/N Y/L/N with the FBI, I’m located at the corner of Brownlow and Oscar. I have two other agents in the car with me, we need medical assistance, we’ve been in a car accident.”

“Are you injured ma’am?”

“Yeah…but not badly, I don’t think. The other agents are unconscious.”

“I have ambulances on the way, stay on the line with me.”

I could hear sirens in the background, and I grabbed the door handle, pushing it open and tumbling out onto the road. I landed in a pile of glass, feeling it cutting into me. I sat up, minding my arm, with the intention of checking the other vehicle to see if anyone was hurt. I heard someone walking over, but when I looked up to see them I felt something smash into the back of my head. 

Then I felt nothing.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hotch discovers Reader is missing, and Reader learns the truth about her past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, thank you guys so much for all the love! This may seem like we're nearing the end, but trust me, I've got more to come with this story! also I named the readers parents because in my head the reader is the reader, but also taken out of her own actual life.
> 
> Y/E/C = your eye colour

Hotch POV

I woke up with a pain in my head. When I opened my eyes, I was facing the passenger side of the SUV. Y/N wasn’t there, but her door was wide open. I heard sirens close by, she must have called 911. 

I sat up as much as I could, looking at Morgan in the back seat. I reached out and checked his pulse, it was steady and pronounced. He was just unconscious. 

An EMT stuck his head in the passenger doorway. “Sir, are you alright?” He asked, and I tried to nod, but it hurt my neck. 

“I’m fine. My agent in the back is unconscious.”

“We’re gonna get you outta there.”

I felt the door behind me open, and a set of hands steady me as I fell backwards. “Stay seated, sir, while I check you over. Does it hurt anywhere?”

“My head. How’s my other agent?”

“I’m not sure sir.”

I tried to stand, but they forced me to sit. I watched them pull Morgan out of the car and put him on a board. He seemed alright. 

“Sir, do you know what happened?”

“Someone hit us. Are they alright?”

“There’s no other vehicle here, sir.”

That got my attention. I sat up, looking around the accident site. There was a trail of debris from where we were hit to where we ended up. We were the only car on that section of the road. 

“Agent Y/L/N, where is she?”

“We don’t have a female patient sir, just you and the other agent.”

“Who called the ambulance?”

“A woman, but she’s not here now.”

I stood up, despite the protests of the EMT. They were wheeling Morgan into an ambulance. I spun slowly in a circle, looking around. Y/N wasn’t anywhere. I walked around to her side of the car, and saw her cellphone on the ground. 

“Y/N?!” I called out, looking for her. 

I grabbed my phone and called Rossi. I told him about the accident, and that Y/N was missing. He had the same thought I did. The unsub took her. 

“Get everyone down here, I want full CSI we need to find everything we can.” I hung up and called Garcia.

“Hola Mr. Boss Man.”

“Garcia, I need you to hack into the street cams on the corner of Brownlow and Oscar, from about ten minutes ago until now.”

“Yes sir, what am I looking for?”

“We were just hit, Y/N is missing. I need the information on the vehicle that hit us, it’s the unsubs.”

“Oh my god.”

“Garcia, panic later.”

“Yes, sir. I’m logging in now.”

My EMT came over to me, holding some gauze and antiseptic. “Sir, I need to clean the wound on your head.”

“You can clean it once I know where my agent is. How’s Agent Morgan?”

“He’s gonna be fine, looks like he banged his head on the seats and knocked himself out. We’re taking him to Saint Mary’s for an evaluation. You should be getting one too.”

“Not happening. Garcia, what have you got for me?”

“Just pulling up the footage now….ten minutes ago….okay cars driving by…scroll forward…oh there you are okay…oh god he rammed right into you guys.”

“Get me a make, model and license plate Garcia.”

“Um….enhancing…Black Ford truck…license plate…405 Echo Charlie 9.”

“Tell me who it’s registered to.”

I saw a black SUV pull up, and the team pile out. 

“Garcia!”

“Yes, sir. That truck is registered to a…Charles Tuck, address 1267 Rosemary Drive.”

“Thank you.” I hung up and went to brief the team, with my exasperated EMT behind me. 

“Hotch, what happened?” Prentiss asked as I got up to them.

“The unsub followed us, crashed into us and took Y/N while Morgan and I were unconscious. Y/N was awake, she called 911.”

“I’m gonna go with Morgan, make sure he’s alright,” JJ said, and I nodded, letting her go join him in the ambulance.

“Garcia gave me a name and address, I want SWAT there immediately.”

“Hotch, we got a partial visual of the unsub from the hotel cameras,” Prentiss said, showing me a photo on her phone. “Send it to Garcia, get her to match it to Charles Tuck.”

“On it.”

“Rossi, Reid, put this together, tell me what happened.”

Reid walked over to the SUV, looking around. “Who was driving?”

“I was, Y/N was passenger.”

He walked around to her side of the car and bent down. “He left her phone…probably knew we could use it to trace her. Doesn’t look like she was dragged out of the car, the amount of glass here she would have bled on it, looks like one small spot here when she got out. I don’t think she even got up, he must have grabbed her from right here.”

“So we know he’s strong enough to kidnap an armed agent.”

“She was just in an accident, she probably wasn’t cognitively capable yet,” Rossi pointed out.

“Still, he got her away from here before the ambulance arrived and without her putting up a fight.”

Prentiss came running over. “Garcia says the photo matches with Charles Tuck.”

“Tell her to get everything we can find on this guy, we need to know what we’re walking into.”

Reader POV

I woke up groggy and confused. I opened my eyes slowly, putting my hand to the back of my head. Looking around, I saw I was in some kind of basement. As I went to sit up, I felt my left arm was constricted: it was in a sling. I sat up fully, looking around. Next to me was a glass of water and a bottle of aspirin that I had no intention of taking. I tried to stand, but I was too dizzy. I searched my pockets, unable to find my phone. My gun was gone as well. 

The basement was small, with no windows and only one obvious exit: the staircase that led upstairs. I tried to stand again, slower this time, and managed to get to my feet. I leaned against the wall until my head stopped spinning. 

Footsteps overhead sounded, and I looked up. Without knowing the layout of the building I was in, I couldn’t tell if they were in a separate room or the same as the basement door. I decided to risk it, heading for the stairs. The footsteps sounded louder, and closer, then the basement door opened. I was standing at the bottom, looking up at the unsub. 

“You’re awake.”

I stared at him, familiarity ringing in my mind. I knew him. I knew him more than just from that day in the park, he was familiar. A face I could see in my mind over and over again. 

“Who are you?” I asked, leaning on the banister to keep my balance.

“You still don’t know?” He started walking down the steps, slowly, one step at a time. “You don’t remember me yet?”

I tried to focus on the memories, until finally my mind latched onto one. 

“Mr. Tuck?”

He smiled, taking another step down. “You do remember. It’s been so long, I was worried you’d forget me entirely.”

I shook my head, unable to grasp the truth of it. He was a friend of my parents, a friend of Mr. and Mrs. Asher. He taught at the school I attended. I saw his face every single day. 

“I don’t understand…why…?”

“You’re so beautiful, I knew you would be. You were such a beautiful little girl. Just like her.”

“Like Sarah?”

He frowned in anger, before stepping down another step. “No, not like Sarah. Sarah was…not important. Not like you.”

I moved away from the stairs, stumbling back against the wall. 

Tuck came all the way down the steps, and walked towards me. He grabbed my chin gently, pulling my face up to look at him. “You look so much like her.”

“Like who?”

“Your mother.”

I shook my head in confusion. “I don’t look anything like my mother.”

“Oh, but you do. As soon as I saw you at school, I knew who you were, who you must be. She’d told me you were dead…”

I lifted my knee quickly, hitting him in the groin. He let go of me, stumbling backwards cupping his balls. I tried to run past up the stairs, but I felt him grab my ankle and trip me. I hit the stairs  
hard, smacking my face on the steps. 

“Y/N, you need to listen to me. I did this for you.”

“Let go of me!” I pulled my ankle away, struggling to get up the steps with only one arm. He got up faster, coming up behind me and grabbing me, lifting me up and dragging me back down the stairs, kicking and fighting.

“Y/N you need to know the truth!”

“I’ll know it when your ass is in custody!”

“I’ve been waiting, for so long, for the right time. You need to understand.” He threw me back onto the floor where I woke up, and I knocked over the glass of water, shattering it. 

“Your life, it’s a lie. It’s all been a lie. The Y/L/N’s, they aren’t your parents.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You act so much like her too. Your mother, your real mother.” He reached out for me and I backed away.

“She would have wanted us to be together.”

“Who are you?!”

“I’m your father.”

I shook my head. “No, David Y/L/N is my father. Cynthia Y/L/N is my mother. You are just some freak!”

“Don’t be like that, Y/N. I waited for you, but we can be together now.”

“Why did you kill Sarah Asher? Why didn’t you take me that day in the park?” I demanded. 

He knelt down to be on my level. “I thought…if I took Sarah, you two were similar. You seemed happy, I didn’t want to take that away from you. But you weren’t happy, and she wasn’t the same.  
She wouldn’t stop crying for her mother. I knew it would never work. It needed to be you.”

“So you killed her. But why keep the body? What did you do with her?”

“I buried her. By the time I was ready to save you, you were gone. They took you away from me. I couldn’t find you. I searched everywhere, but those thieves…they knew what they were doing. I shouldn’t have left you that letter. You were supposed to find it, but that whore got to it first.”

At this point I could only hope that the team knew I was taken, and that they had some kind of lead. I hoped Prentiss and Rossi had been able to get an ID from the hotel footage. I prayed they were on their way. But if they were, or if they weren’t, I had to stall for time. Tuck was unravelling in front of me. 

“Tell me about my mother.”

He looked at me, tears shining in his eyes. “You believe me?”

“Maybe. I just…tell me about her. You said I look like her.”

“You do. The same Y/H/C, the same Y/E/C eyes. You didn’t get any of me at all, except maybe your chin. She was my first love…my only love. When she got pregnant, I wanted to marry her. But  
she turned me down. Said she…didn’t want a baby with me. She told me she…she said you were gone. She took you away from me.”

“What happened to her?”

Tuck shook his head, “She had an accident.” His hands clenched into fists. 

“Tell me about when you first saw me. When you knew who I was.”

Tuck smiled, remembering. “You were in 1st grade. You came to school wearing that little hat, and this sweet little dress. I looked at you and all I saw was her.”

“But you couldn’t know…”

“I looked into it. When she left me, she disappeared. It took me months to find her again. She had run off to Philly. While she was there she was admitted to the hospital. She gave birth to a baby girl.”

As he was talking, I was slowly reaching my hand across the floor to the broken glass from the water. My fingers gripped onto a piece of glass that felt big and sharp. I slowly held onto it, feeling it cut into my hand, as I pulled it back closer to me. 

“You fixed up my arm.”

Tuck nodded, “I think you just dislocated something. I’m sorry about that. I saw you at the park, and I just thought of you as that little girl and I got so angry that our life together got taken away.”

“Were the other agents okay?” 

Tuck shrugged. “I think they were breathing.”

I nodded, sitting up properly. “I’m sorry I freaked out earlier. I was scared.”

“You don’t need to be scared of me.”

“I know, I see that now.”

“We can finally be a family.”

I smiled in agreement, then struggled to stand. 

“Let me help you up,” Tuck said, reaching for me. I gripped the piece of glass in my hand and swung, catching him in the face and slicing over his eye and cheek. He screamed in agony, and I used the opportunity to push myself into a run. I got up the stairs and out the door into the main house. He was right behind me. I took a gamble, running to the right where I heard his footsteps earlier, hoping there was a door. I saw it at the end of a hall, and ran for it. 

Tuck grabbed my jacket, pulling me backwards into his arms. He grabbed my arm and bent it until I dropped the shard of glass. 

“You lied to me. Just like your mother. You’re both lying whores.” Tuck had my gun, he pulled it out and went to point it at me.

The front door burst open, and I saw Hotch, Rossi, Prentiss, and Reid, along with multiple police officers behind them. I could see blood on Hotch’s head, he hadn’t even taken the time to get cleaned up.

“Charles Tuck, FBI. Put the gun down and let Agent Y/L/N go,” Hotch ordered, taking a step inside. He had 4 guns pointed at him, but none of them could take a shot. I was in the way. Tuck pulled me more in front of him, gun aimed at my temple. 

“Come any closer and I’ll shoot her.”

“I don’t think you will, Charles. You waited 20 years just to kill her?” Hotch taunted, but I shook my head. 

“Hotch, don’t.” He looked at me, and back at Tuck. 

“Just let her go, Tuck.”

“No, she lied to me, she tricked me.”

I moved myself slightly closer to Tuck, trying to angle myself better. Hotch was looking at Tuck, but I could see he was watching my movements as well. 

“We can all walk away from this, Tuck. If you hurt her it’s not gonna end well for you,” Hotch warned him. 

“I’ve seen you with her. The way you touch her, you wanna take her from me just for yourself!”

Rossi and Prentiss had moved into the doorway slightly, staying behind Hotch as backup. 

“Dad…” I said, causing everyone to look at me, “Please don’t do this.”

I felt Tuck shaking, and I used it to put myself in the position I wanted. 

“You won’t stay with me!”

“I know, I’m sorry.” I said this to Hotch, nodding slightly. I saw his eyebrows furrow and he aimed, pulling the trigger. I felt Tuck pulling me backwards as he fell, my shoulder in sudden agony.

Hotch ran over and pulled me off of Tuck, while Rossi came and aimed his gun at Tuck’s head. “Don’t move.”

I looked over at him, and saw the blood seeping through his shirt, right near his heart. I had positioned myself well. I knew if Hotch shot me from that close range, the bullet could make it through and hit Tuck. I was right. 

“Y/N, it’s okay, we’ve got you,” Hotch said, grabbing my waist and lifting me up to stand, holding me so I didn’t fall. “I need a medic in here now!”

“God…I didn’t think being shot would hurt this much…”

Hotch just shook his head at me in frustration, before placing a kiss on the top of my head. I smiled, before passing out.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life for the BAU goes back to normal, while Reader and Hotch get closer than ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally some smut is here!!!! this chapter is EXPLICIT people, be warned. 
> 
> also I'm starting to burn out a bit, chapters may come less frequently for a bit. But fear not, the story isn't over.

Hotch POV

I sat next to her hospital bed, waiting for her to wake up. The doctors said it would be a couple hours. They stitched up her shoulder where I shot her, and relocated the arm from where it was misplaced in the accident. She had a deep cut on her hand, from the glass we found in the basement. 

Prentiss and Reid had done a sweep of the house. They found a bedroom made up to look like a child’s room upstairs. They’d also found packed suitcases, one full of Tuck’s clothes, the other full of brand new female clothes. I knew we’d have to interview Y/N when she woke up, she was the only one who knew what happened. 

Tuck wasn’t gonna be talking for a while. He was in a medically induced coma until they could be sure his heart healed. I hoped it wouldn’t. 

A knock at the door caught my attention, and I turned to see who it was. 

Reid smiled at me briefly before coming in to the room. “How’s she doing?”

“Hasn’t woken up yet, but doctors say she’ll be allowed to leave in a couple days.”

Reid sat down on the other side of the bed, taking her hand and holding it in his. I envied him. “She called him Dad.”

I nodded. “There’s more to this story than we know. Where’s the rest of the team?”

“JJ and Emily are in Morgan’s room, he’s just getting discharged now. They’re gonna head back to the hotel. Rossi went to the precinct to grab some stuff for the case files.”

“Are you staying here?” I asked, nodding towards their hands. 

“Yeah, if that’s okay.”

“Of course. I’m gonna get some coffee, do you want some?”

“Yeah, bring me back lots of sugar packets.”

I got up and left the room, walking towards the vending machines that dispense the atrocious hospital coffee. I felt stupid for showing affection for Y/N in front of the team, but at the same time I knew they would never say anything. We were a family. I decided to call Haley and talk to Jack, I needed the comfort of knowing they were alright. 

As I spoke to Haley, letting her know briefly what had happened, the thought crossed my mind that I had broken promises to both Haley and Y/N. Haley had gotten fed up, that’s why we divorced. If I started a relationship, however ill advised, with Y/N…I’d only hurt her too. 

When I finished up talking to Jack, telling him goodnight and that I loved him, I grabbed the coffees I promised, making sure to grab a handful of sugar for Reid. The idea of drinking his coffee made me grimace. 

I could hear Reid talking as I got closer to Y/N’s room, and saw she was awake when I walked in. 

I handed Reid his coffee and dumped the sugar packets in his lap. “Hey sleepyhead,” I said to Y/N, and she smiled slightly.   
“Hey…”

I sat down back in my seat, putting my coffee down on the table beside the bed. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired…like I was shot in the shoulder…” I could see she was joking, but I felt pain remembering how I had hurt her. I was the reason she was in the hospital.

“Hey Spence…can I talk with Hotch for a minute?” Y/N asked, squeezing his hand gently.

“Absolutely, I’ll go see if Morgan’s out yet.” Reid took his coffee with him, and shut the door behind him. 

“Aaron, stop it.”

“Stop what?”

“Stop blaming yourself. I can see it in your face.”

“Who should I be blaming?”

“Um…Tuck? Since he’s the one who killed Sarah and kidnapped me?”

“He didn’t shoot you.”

“I told you to do it. I positioned myself, it was the only way I was walking out of there. Tuck…he was delusional.”

“I broke my promise.”

“What promise?”

“I told you I wouldn’t let him touch you. He almost killed you.”

Y/N moved her hand over and grabbed mine. “You saved me. And I’m not gonna let you sit here wallowing in guilt. If I have to get out of this bed, I will.”

I laughed, despite myself, and leaned forward, kissing her forehead.

“That’s not where I want your lips.” I moved lower and kissed her mouth, softly.

She hummed in contentment, and I pulled away slowly. 

“I think the team knows something is up,” I told her, and she shrugged, before grimacing in pain. “Ouch, that was dumb. I don’t care if they know, do you?”

“No.” I kissed her again, gently cupping her cheek with my free hand, while she kept hold of my other. 

ONE MONTH LATER

Reader POV

I was finally cleared to go back to work, and I was almost bouncing with joy. The last month had been tough, sitting on the sidelines while the team - my family - went into dangerous situations without me. 

They’d all come to visit me, Penelope and Spencer the most, whenever they weren’t on a case. Aaron tried to be around as much as possible. He had taken a week off to help me get settled, but he still had work, and Jack, to take care of. I made him leave a few times to be with his son. We hadn’t had sex, he was worried about my shoulder supposedly, but I was worried that maybe he wasn’t ready. Ready to be getting into a relationship so soon after Haley, who I knew he still loved. Ready to be having an office romance, knowing it was against policy, and the dangers involved in our job. 

I didn’t have time to worry about it right then, I was gonna be late for my first day back. I grabbed my purse, and put my replacement gun in the holster. My other one was still in evidence, though I hoped to be getting it back soon. 

When I arrived at the office, I walked through the glass doors into the bullpen. Penelope almost jumped me, hugging me tightly to her and screeching with joy.

“You’re back!” 

“Yeah, it’s good to see you too, PG.” I hugged her back, and saw the others walking over to say hello.

“Hey guys,” I said, hugging them each in turn. I could see Rossi and Hotch were in Hotch’s office talking, so when I finished with the rest of the team I went over there. I knocked on the door, hearing a bit of their conversation.

“She has a right to know,” Rossi was saying, and I peeked my head in.

“Hey guys, am I interrupting something?”

“No,” Rossi said, right as Hotch said, “Yes.”

“Welcome back, bella,” Rossi said, kissing me on both cheeks. 

“Thanks Dave, glad to finally be back.”

“Y/L/N.”

“Hotch.”

“Glad you’re back.”

Rossi looked between the two of us and rolled his eyes. “Listen kids, you haven’t been fooling anyone. No point in trying now,” he said with a grin, and I smiled.

“I’ll let you two have a minute. Aaron, tell her,” Rossi said as he left, closing the door behind him. 

“Tell me what?”

“If I asked you to forget it, would you?” He pleaded with me, and I shook my head. 

“No. Tell me what?”

Hotch sighed, coming around his desk. “Tuck escaped custody last night during transport.”

“Tell me they found him.”

“We’re still looking.”

“I just got back, Aaron…this can’t start again.” 

He walked over to me and pulled me to him, hugging me, one hand on the back of my head. “I broke my promise last time. That won’t happen again.”

I’d been hiding it from Aaron, from everyone, but my encounter with Charles Tuck had wounded me, more than just physically. I’d confronted my parents, begging them to tell me it wasn’t true. The minute my mother started crying I knew it was. Everything went downhill from there. I had Garcia look up adoption records from Philadelphia in 1980, as well as birth certificates with the birth mother listed but not the father. There were a couple possibilities, ones that only Tuck could confirm, until I had her look up if any of the mothers had died in an accident shortly afterwards. 

My mother had been Lisa Simmons, she’d died in a car accident a month after I was born. I had already been put up for adoption. I knew in my heart that Tuck had killed her. He didn’t know about me, but his anger still fuelled him to hunt her down. That same determination is what had led him to me. And now he was free.

I pulled away from Hotch, straightening up his suit jacket. “Okay. Now I know. Let’s get onto the new case.”

“Y/N…if you’re not ready,” he began, and I patted his cheek gently. 

“I’m fine, let’s go.” I led the way to the conference room, everyone else on the team was already in there, including Garcia. She winked as Hotch and I entered, and I saw him give her a look. She turned around quickly. 

“JJ, what do we got?” He asked, taking a seat at the table. I sat down next to him, giving Morgan a fist bump as I did. I missed the team. 

“Three homicides, all men, early to late twenties.”

We flew to Atlanta immediately, and spent the day looking over case files, trying to build a victimology and a geographic profile. I was exhausted, and even though I wouldn’t tell the team, my shoulder hurt. I was about to take a warm shower when a knock came to my door. I remembered what had happened last time, and looked through the peephole anxiously. I smiled when I saw it was Hotch and opened the door. 

“Hi.”

“HI, sorry if I’m interrupting.” I stood aside and let him in, closing the door behind him. 

“Was just gonna take a shower.”

“How’s your shoulder?” He asked, sitting on the end of my bed. 

“Fine.”

“Come here,” he sat, patting the bed beside him. I sat down, and he pulled my bathrobe down off my shoulder slowly, running his fingers down my skin. I shivered with how lightly he was touching me. He leaned in and kissed my scar, first on the front, then on the back. His fingers began massaging the skin around the wound, relieving the ache. 

“You can’t imagine how good that feels…”

“I wish it hadn’t happened.”

“Aaron, I told you.”

“I know, I know it was necessary, it doesn’t change that I had to shoot you. I was watching one of my nightmares come to life and I was behind the gun.”

I turned to him, looking into his eyes. 

“I’m sorry. I hope it never has to happen again.”

“It won’t.” I wished I was as confident as he was. But the dread of Charles Tuck’s escape hung over me like a cloud, ready to burst. 

“Yes, sir.” It had the reaction I had hoped for. His eyes darkened, and he leaned in to kiss me fiercely. I grabbed at his jacket, quickly pushing it from his shoulders, and he helped by pulling it off and tossing it to the floor. He pulled at the tie on my bathrobe, opening it and pushing it completely off of me. I was exposed to him, completely, for the first time. He pulled away to look at me, and I could see the lust in his eyes. 

“Dammit woman…” He leaned in and kissed my neck, traveling down across my collarbone before he reached my breasts. Taking one nipple into his mouth, I gasped at the sensation. My hands were frantically trying to unbutton his dress shirt, but he pushed them away and placed them firmly on the bed.

“Those stay here,” he ordered, and I nodded. He moved to the other nipple, licking it before moving down my stomach. 

“Aaron…”

He slapped my thigh, and I jumped at the impact. 

“That’s not what you call me here.”

“I’m sorry, sir.”

He growled and moved down, kissing past my belly button and reaching the v in my legs. He pushed my thighs apart, holding them there, before looking up at me. 

“Tell me what you want.”

“Aaron…I can’t…”

He slapped my thigh again. “That’s an order.” 

When I didn’t say anything, he nipped at my inner thigh. I moaned, and looked down at him again. “I want you to make me cum.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, smirking, before immediately moving in to my clit. He licked at it, sucked, and then moved down, pushing his tongue inside of me. One of his hands came up and his thumb started rubbing my clit. He was ferocious, doing everything he could to fulfill my want as fast as possible. His other hand let go of my thigh and suddenly there was a finger inside me, which quickly turned to two. 

I kept my hands on the bed, gripping the sheets, my head thrown back in ecstasy. I could feel I was almost there, and Aaron knew it. He stopped, making me groan in frustration and look down at him. 

“I want you looking at me when you cum,” he said, before going right back in. He added a third finger, and I knew I was done for. I came while looking at him, like he ordered, his eyes staring up at me as he licked me through my convulsions. I moved my hands to push at his head gently when it got too much, and he moved up my body, kissing, until he reached my mouth. He kissed my deeply, and I attempted unbuttoning his shirt again.

“No, that was for you.”

“I’m not gonna just leave you unfinished, Aaron,” I said, and he smiled. “It’s okay. Just tonight, let it be about you.” I wanted to protest, but he kissed me again, silencing me. “Go take your shower.”

“You still gonna be here when I get out?”

“Of course.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The relationship between Reader and Hotch evolves, and for a while they get to just have fun.
> 
> explicit content in this chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, I can only thank you guys for reading!!! I've decided this story will be ending probably in the next couple chapters, but there will be a sequel series that spans Hotch and Reader's relationship through different moments on the show, just so we can get closure!
> 
> also since this is season 3 which took place in 2007-2008, FaceTime wasn't a thing and I don't believe any phones had video calling, at least front facing, so just pretend for that ok!

When I woke up in the morning, I could feel Aaron’s body behind me. I purposely pushed myself back into him, and felt his morning wood rub against my ass. He groaned, wrapping an arm around my waist and holding me against him. 

“Stop that or we’re going to be late,” he mumbled. 

“I don’t mind being late.”

“I bet you don’t.”

I wiggled in his grasp, rubbing against his cock. He moved his hand to my hip and held me firmly still. 

“We have a case. We still have to remain professional when we’re working,” he scolded, and I sighed. 

“Fine, you’re right.” He kissed my shoulder, paying special attention to the scar, before letting go and sliding out of bed. “I’m gonna take a shower, try and get back to my room and change before meeting up with the team.”

I nodded and watched him go into the bathroom, hearing the water run. Despite the amazing orgasm he had given me the night before, I was still wanting, especially after feeling what he was packing. 

I reached down my still naked body and rubbed my clit, closing my eyes and pretending it was Aaron’s fingers. The way they felt the night before. I lowered my hand and pushed two fingers inside, working them in and out the way he had. I heard myself moan, continuing to work for my peak. 

I heard Aaron clear his throat, and opened my eyes, stopping my hand movement. 

“Well…I suppose I couldn’t expect you to wait,” he said, armed crossed over his chest, towel wrapped around his waist. His boxers were on the chair next to him with the rest of his clothes.

“I don’t like waiting…”

“Mm…too bad. Get up, get dressed, and meet me downstairs in the lobby.”

“Is that an order, sir?”

His brows furrowed at me. “Try and keep your hands out of your cunt today, and maybe we can see about filling it with something else.” I nodded, shocked at this new side of Hotch, but also incredibly turned on. 

He grabbed the towel around his waist and undid it, dropping it to the floor. He stood in front of me, all 6’1” of his naked body for me to stare at. And I did stare. I purposely started at his face, slowly moving down his chest and torso, before stopping at his groin. From what I’d felt earlier, I knew he was big, but I wasn’t prepared for all of what I was witnessing now. 

“Now, promise you’ll be good today.”

“Yes, sir.”

He smiled, grabbing his clothes and beginning to get dressed. He stopped as he was pulling his pants up. “I thought I told you to get up.”

I scrambled to push the covers off of me, sliding out of the bed quickly. Aaron watched me as I walked over to my suitcase and grabbed clothes for the day. 

“You look just as amazing from behind.”

I tossed a pair of rolled up socks at him, and he laughed. It was the first laugh I’d heard from him in a while. “Go get fresh clothes before I decide to ignore your orders and jump you.”

He held his hands up in mock surrender, buttoning up yesterday’s shirt and grabbing his jacket. He walked over to me, and I turned to face him as he did. He kissed me deeply, and I leaned into it. When he pulled away he was smiling.

“Remember. Professional,” I said to him, and he rolled his eyes before leaving for his own room. 

We met up with the team in the lobby, and no one seemed suspicious of where our boss had spent the night. We got back to work on the case, and luckily Reid noticed a big mistake the unsub made. We were able to nail down our target and catch him before he killed another young man. None of us wanted to spend another night in a hotel, so we took the jet home that night. Everyone was fast asleep, except for myself, Hotch, and Reid. Reid and I were playing chess, and as usual he was kicking my ass.

“Alright I give up, exactly how many moves before you completely whoop my ass?” I asked.

Reid smiled, moving a bishop across the board. “I see checkmate in 3.”

“Dammit, you win.”

“I always win.”

“I know, I don’t know why I play with you.”

“Because you’re my best friend.”

“Ugh, I need new friends.”

Hotch was working on paperwork, and I knew he had hours more work left to do. I got up and sat next to him. 

“Want some help?”

“It’s okay, I’ve got it.”

“Hotch, let me help you shave a couple hours off your night, please.”

He silently slid me over a couple files and I got to work. After a while my eyes started to hurt, so I took a break and looked up. Prentiss and Rossi were staring at us from their perspective places on the plane. I looked at myself, before looking at Hotch, to see what the hell they were looking at it. Hotch had fallen asleep, leaning towards me with a soft smile on his face. I looked over at Prentiss and Rossi.

“What? Never seen a man sleep before? Mind ya business.”

Emily laughed and Rossi just closed his eyes like he hadn’t seen anything at all. Reid had fallen asleep at some point, face down on the chessboard. If I was nice I’d move him, but then I remembered how he always beat me, and decided to leave him. 

When was landed in Quantico, I nudged at Hotch gently. He opened his eyes and looked at me, before realizing we were still on the jet. He sat up and looked around at the team who were all waking up themselves.

“I finished most of the paperwork, I think you can leave the rest for tomorrow,” I told him, gathering all the files neatly. 

“You should have woke me up,” he complained.

“You looked like you were having a good sleep.”

Hotch stood, gathering the files and his go bag. The rest of the team was ready to get off the damn plane, and I agreed with them.

“JJ, please, please don’t call us until at least 10am tomorrow,” Morgan complained, and JJ just shook her head.

“I’ll make sure I call you bright and early, Morgan,” she said, and the team laughed.

Once we were all off, most of the team headed to their vehicles to go home and get a decent night sleep. I saw Hotch start to walk towards the main building, and I quickly grabbed his arm and turned him around.

“Oh no you don’t. I told you, you can finish in the morning. Go home.”

“Y/N you remember that I’m your boss, correct?”

“Yup, and as my boss I expect you to lead by example and go home and sleep.”

No one on the team was around any longer, and with how late it was no one in the entire FBI seemed to be around.

“You remember this morning what I said if you were good?” He asked suddenly, and I gulped in anticipation.

“Yes.”

Hotch blinked at me.

“Yes, sir.”

“Would you like me to keep my promise?”

As much as I desperately wanted to say yes, the bags under his eyes that were normally a faint darkness were now a deep purple. “You need to sleep. Besides, I let you sleep through paperwork, so I wasn’t all that good today anyway.”

“Mm…well if you weren’t good then I suppose we’ll have to try again tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow sounds lovely.”

Aaron kissed me gently, before cupping my chin so that I looked at him. “The rule still stands. Keep your hands-“

“I know, I know. You know, Agent, you might have a slight sadistic side to you. I’m trying to be nice and let you get some rest, and you’re not even gonna let me relax a little?”

“No. Either I come with you and fuck you into the mattress, or you go home and sleep. Your choice.”

I bit my lower lip, looking into his eyes. “Ugh…goodnight, Aaron.”

He let me go with a smirk. “Goodnight, Y/N.”

I had every intention of breaking that rule the second I got home, as sexually frustrated as I was, but my body had other plans. As soon as I stepped into my apartment I could feel myself begin to crash. I locked up, threw my go bag at the couch, and went to bed, stripping my work clothes off and tossing them in the hamper before falling asleep in my underwear. 

My phone buzzed in the morning, and I grabbed it out of habit, looking to see who the text was from. 

_we got a new case, meet at the office for 11_

It was JJ. I glanced at the time, noting it was 9:45. I wondered if she had messaged Derek first just to fuck with him. I stretched, rubbing my shoulder where it was aching slightly. Now that I was awake, I needed to get up and shower and get my go bag repacked. Then I remembered my intention from the night before. Hotch wasn’t here, he would have no idea I broke his little “rule”. Just as I was about to get down to business, my phone rang. I let out a frustrated groan, looking at the caller id. 

“Are you psychic or something?” I asked him as I picked up the phone. 

“I was just calling to wish you a good morning. Why, were you thinking about me?”

“No…”

“Mm…I also had a feeling you might try and break the rule while I wasn’t there.”

“Stupid profiler…”

“If you break the rule, you’ll have to be punished.”

“Is that a promise?” I asked, getting out of bed and grabbing new clothes for the go bag. 

“Naughty girl.”

“What’s the new case?” I also grabbed clothes for today, putting them on the bed while I went to start the shower. 

“Kidnapping in New Orleans.”

“Well…guess I’ll pack the summer clothes.” 

“Be careful what you bring, Y/N. The last time you wore something short and revealing I had to lock myself in my office.”

“You’ll just have to suffer through it, Aaron. I’m getting in the shower, I’ll meet you at the office.”

“See you soon.” He said and hung up, and I quickly jumped into my shower. Once I was out and dressed, I put away my original choices and grabbed some lighter, but still business-y outfits to wear. I threw in a fun outfit in case we decided to have a night out. 

I made it to the office just before 11, riding the elevator up. As I walked into the bullpen, I saw most of the team were already gathered in the conference room.

“Y/N!” I turned at my name, seeing Garcia waving me down. I stopped to let her catch up. 

“Hey Penelope.”

“Hello love. Listen, I was here extra early today, don’t ask me why I cannot tell you, but I saw the boss man himself in his office.”

“Hotch being early isn’t that unusual, P.”

“I know. But it’s what he was doing that was unusual.”

“Spill it.”

“Right, so he was doing paperwork, you know, like he does, but then he started smiling and made a phone call. When he was done said phone call, he got up and shut his office door, and closed the blinds.” Garcia knew her gossip, and she knew it well. 

“What do you think he was doing?” I asked, knowing full well it had been me he was talking to. 

“It seemed like a pretty intimate phone call, if you ask me…” She gave me a knowing look, but I just shrugged. 

“Hey, Hotch and Haley have been separated for a long time. Maybe he’s found someone to keep him occupied.”

“Mhm…you and I are gonna talk later, missy,” She threatened, and I just waved as I rushed up to the conference room. 

“Alright, JJ, tell us about the missing girl,” Hotch said as I entered, closing the door behind me. 

“It’s hotter than Hades down here,” I complained, fanning myself with the case file. It was a staggering 110 degrees in New Orleans, and I wondered how Will had ever actually lived down here. 

Hotch, Prentiss, and I were at the crime scene, trying to see what the New Orleans police had not. Something that drew our unsub to kidnapping Jessica Turner. 

Prentiss was walking the path from the laundry mat to where Jessica’s car was parked. “So it’s late at night, the laundry mat just closed, I’m a young woman, I’m probably walking pretty quickly to get back to my car.”

“She never even made it, her clothes were found here,” I said, standing next to the spot marked on the pavement. “She parked as close as she could, and still didn’t make it.”

Hotch had specifically wanted me and Emily to look over the crime scene, as women we could infer more about Jessica than any of the men could. 

“Unless she dropped her clothes herself.”

“Like she wanted to run?”

"New Orleans pd have a couple witnesses that say Jessica was running when they saw her,” Hotch said.

“That explains it.”

“So she saw the unsub and knew he was coming after her, so she dumped the clothes and tried to run for help,” Emily guessed.

“Why didn’t she go back to the laundry mat?”

“He may have been blocking it,” Hotch added.

“We need to interview her friends and family, see is Jessica made any comments about someone stalking her,” Emily said.

Turns out Jessica did have a stalker, and once we knew that it was easy to track him through her social media. We found her alive and got her home before dinner.

The hotel had a pool and an outdoor hot tub, though all of us except Morgan and Prentiss avoided it based on the heat. Rossi was reading on a lounger, while JJ and Reid were splashing around in the pool. I was tanning next to Rossi, enjoying the slightly cooler temps the evening brought, getting the last bit of sun for the day. 

“You know bella, Hotch comes down here and sees you like that, old man might have a heart attack,” Rossi said to me quietly, flipping a page in his book.

I flipped my sunglasses up to look at him, “he’s seen less.”

“That’s my girl.”

Aaron had told me that he’d told Rossi, so we didn’t have to be as discreet around him.

I smiled before putting my sunglasses back down and closing my eyes. I was wearing a bikini, and yeah it was pretty tiny. Emily and JJ had bikinis as well, though they were slightly more covered than me. But I knew I was the only one on the team who had someone that might be looking.

Sure enough, when Hotch came down a few minutes later, wearing swim trunks and a t-shirt, he stopped next to my lounger. 

“Really, y/n?” 

I just smiled, turning my head slightly to look at him. “What? It’s hot.”

He just sighed and sat on the lounger next to me. 

“Jack wanted me to say to hi to everyone for him.”

“Tell the little man he needs to visit with uncle Dave soon.”

“I will, I’m taking him for a couple nights when we get back, I’ll bring him in for a visit.”

I hummed, knowing that meant Aaron was unavailable to me for the next few nights. He hadn’t told Haley, and it wasn’t the right time to be spending time with Jack. 

“You’re gonna burn laying like that too long,” Aaron said, staring at me. 

“You’re right...” I said, flipping over to lay on my stomach, my ass on full display in the tiny bottoms. 

He groaned as Rossi laughed. 

“The jet will be ready to go in a couple hours,” he said out loud so the team could hear.

“Ugh can’t we stay a while longer, this hot tub is gorgeous,” Emily complained.

“Hey quiet down over there, some of us wanna get home and enjoy their beautiful a/c,” I yelled over to her and the team laughed.

I peeked over at Aaron under my glasses, and noticed he seemed a bit tense.

“Actually I think I’m done tanning, might just go get packed up,” I said, pushing myself up and giving Aaron a look.

I grabbed my towel, wrapping it around my body and heading back in to my room. By the time I reached my room door, Aaron was behind me. As soon as I unlocked it and pushed it open he was pushing me inside and slamming it behind him.

I dropped my towel and turned to kiss him, as he grabbed my waist and lifted me. I wrapped my legs around his waist, tongue deep in his mouth as I tried to get closer to him. He walked me over to the bed and dropped me on it.

“Take those off,” he ordered, as he pulled his t-shirt over his head.

I grabbed the tie at the back of my neck and undid it, letting the straps fall, before undoing the tie at my back and dropping my top. I slid my bottoms off as Aaron pulled his trunks down, stepping out of them and immediately moving over top of me. 

I kissed him, while reaching down and moving my hand slowly up and down his cock. He was already mostly hard, but I heard him groan as I worked him to full hardness. I reached my other hand to the nightstand, opening the drawer and grabbing the condom I had stashed there, just in case. 

We hadn’t had sex yet, but it seems the New Orleans heat had finally worn us down. He took the condom from me, ripping it open with his teeth. I grabbed it from the wrapper and put it on him, and he moved into position.

“Y/n...you’re ready for this?”

I kissed him again. “Aaron…if you don’t get inside me right now, I will find someone else.” He smacked my thigh, before pushing my leg up towards my chest. “Christ, you’re practically soaked.”

I meant to make a snarky comment back, but then he pushed inside me and all I could do was moan. He entered slowly, letting me adjust to his size. He was bigger than I’d had before, stretching me perfectly. Aaron moaned my name as he bottomed out, keeping himself there and looking at me. He waited for me to nod that I was ready. 

He pulled back, pulling almost all the way out before shoving back in almost violently, desperately. He hit at whatever it was inside me that made me moan loudly, clawing at his back. 

“Fuck, y/n...” he moaned into my ear, kissing my neck as he thrusted into me. One hand grabbed my breast while the other held him above me, and I moved my hands to his hips, pulling him down into me.

He fucked me for what felt like hours, building my pleasure more and more every second. Eventually, he moaned into my ear.

“Get yourself off,” he commanded, and I moved one of my hands to rub at my clit. It didn’t take long before I reached my peaked, moaning his name loud enough that I’m sure people in the next room could hear. 

Aaron thrusted a few more times before pushing completely into me and stopping, releasing his pleasure inside me. He collapsed onto me, before rolling over to lay beside me. We both panted, covered in sweat from the southern heat and our rigorous activities. He removed the condom and chucked it into the garbage can near the bed.

“Wish we’d done that sooner,” I said, rubbing my hand up and down his chest.

“Agreed,” he said, leaning over to kiss my shoulder. 

“I think the team probably knows by now,” I stated, and he nodded. 

“That mean I get to start calling you my boyfriend?” 

“Not in public,” he said with a smile. 

“Yes, sir.”

He groaned and rolled on top of me again, nipping at my breast and kissing my collarbone. 

“Might need to make a list of things I’m allowed to call you in public then, we don’t want you attacking me at work.” 

“Yes, I’m not sure Strauss would appreciate that.”

“Fuck...Strauss. If she hears about this we're fucked.”

“Don’t worry, the team isn’t gonna say anything. As long as we stay professional.”

“Like I said, we’re fucked.” He laughed, kissing me and rolling back to the side. 

“We should get packed before the team come looking for us.”

Just then my phone rang, and I reached over Aaron to grab it from the nightstand. It was a video call from Penelope. I made sure to grab the sheet and pull it up over my chest to cover myself before I answered. 

“Hey PG, what’s going on?”

“Hi Y/N, were you sleeping?”

“No, just got back from tanning.”

“Right on, you guys are coming back tonight right?”

“Yup, plane leaves in a couple hours.”

“Awesome I’ll see you guys soon!”

Aaron leaned over and grabbed my wrist, moving it so the front camera was facing him. “Garcia, can you make sure copies of everything from the case are printed and on my desk when we get in?”

I could see a mix of emotions crossing Garcia’s face, including shock, confusion, then finally understanding. “oh um…yes sir. I’ll go do that right now. And might I say you look very handsome sir.   
Okay, bye.” She hung up and I laughed. 

“Well if the team didn’t know, they certainly will in about 20 seconds.”

“I figured. Seemed the fastest way to tell everyone,” Aaron said, getting up and pulling his swim trunks back on, before grabbing his shirt and pulling it on as well. 

“Did you have to do it while we were still naked in bed?”

“Maybe not, but it was more fun that way.”

Aaron went back to his room to get his stuff, and I got dressed, making sure to check everywhere for anything missing. I met him at his room, throwing my bag in with his, and we went back downstairs to hang with the team. 

As we walked out to the pool area, the team all cheered loudly. I blushed, embarrassed that they knew we’d just fucked each other’s brains out upstairs. 

Spencer swam over to the edge of the pool, motioning me over, so I bent down in front of him. 

“You told Garcia before me?” he asked, faking hurt. 

“ _I_ didn’t tell Garcia. In fact, I haven’t told anyone. Aaron told Rossi and Garcia, and Garcia told you guys.”

“You let Hotch tell Rossi before me?” He splashed some water up at me. 

“Sorry, Spence. It won’t happen again.”

By the time we all got our stuff and were back on the jet, we were all exhausted. The heat had gotten to us, so as soon as we took off most of the team was laying down to get some rest. Aaron was sitting at the table, across from Rossi, and I sat next to him. I curled in to his shoulder, and he put his arm around me, pulling me in. I fell asleep listening to his heartbeat.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just when everything seems happy, the past comes back with a vengeance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope ya'll enjoyed the fluff and smut, cause this chapter is not a happy one. 
> 
> one more chapter after this and the story is over! (for now!)

6 months later

“What’s everyone doing with their weekend off?” Prentiss asked, grabbing her jacket.

We’d just finished up a grueling case in Montana involving twelve missing kids. We’d managed to save the latest victim, a five year old girl. We’d been on the case since Tuesday, and finally got in late Friday night. 

“I am cooking up a lovely dinner for a lovely woman,” Rossi said.

“Wife number 4?” Morgan asked.

“Don’t push me,” Rossi replied laughing. 

“Spend time with my son and boyfriend,” JJ answered.

“I’m gonna spend time with JJ’s son,” Reid said, causing everyone to laugh.

“Me too!” Said Garcia. Reid and Garcia were Henry’s godparents, so it wasn’t unusual for them to hang out with Henry, JJ, and Will.

“What are you up to Prentiss?” Morgan asked.

“Mmmmm I am going to have a lovely weekend all to myself.”

“I’m going to see my mom and sisters,” Morgan announced.

“Tell them we said hi,” I told him.

“What about you y/l/n?” he asked me. 

“Dunno, just hang around I guess. Hotch and Haley are taking Jack to the park.”

Aaron was finishing up paperwork in his office, then we were heading back to his place for the night. They were going to the park tomorrow for the day, so I contemplated what I was gonna do. Haley knew that Aaron and I were seeing each other, but we’d never spoken much other than a casual hello as Jack was being picked up or dropped off. I didn’t want her to think I was trying to take over her family.

I said goodbye to the team as they all left, walking up to Aaron’s office to see if he was almost done.

“Knock knock, you ready to go soon?” I asked, and he looked up.

“Yeah just give me like ten minutes.”

“Okay,” I said, sitting down on his couch to wait.

“Haley wanted me to ask you something,” he said suddenly, and my eyes widened a bit in shock. 

“Uh sure.”

“She wants you to come to the park with us tomorrow.”

“Really? I thought...well it was family time.”

“Haley knows that you’re important to me, and to Jack. That makes you family. She wants to get to know you.”

“Well...yeah of course I’ll go.”

Aaron smiled and went back to his paperwork. I got up and closed the door, and began closing the blinds.

“What are you doing?”

I walked over to him, pushing him back in his chair and sitting in his lap, straddling him.

“I’m important to you?” I asked.

“Of course you are.”

“Important enough that I get to come to family functions...”

“Yes...”

I kissed him deeply, putting my hands on his face. 

“I love you, Aaron Hotchner.”

He stared into my eyes, before leaning forward and kissing me again.

“I love you.”

We met Haley and Jack at the park, and Jack came running to hug his dad. Aaron lifted him up, hugging him tightly. “Hey buddy!”

Haley was smiling when she caught up, and I smiled back at her. Aaron put Jack down, who then turned to me and hugged my legs. I bent down and hugged him properly. 

“Hi Y/N,” he said, and kissed my cheek. 

“Hi Jack.” I stood up and he took my hand, so I held his. 

“How was the latest case?” Haley asked. 

“Long,” Aaron replied, and we all laughed slightly. 

“Can we go down the slide?” Jack asked, tugging my hand. 

“Sure, buddy,” I said, and we all walked over to the playground equipment. Jack wanted me to go down with him first, then Aaron went down with him a few times. Haley and I sat on the bench watching. 

“How’s Jack been doing in pre-school?” I asked, trying to make conversation. I didn’t want to step on her toes in anyway. 

“He loves it, tells everyone that will listen how his daddy catches bad guys. He’s talked about you a few times.”

“Really?”

“Yup, I think he was playing FBI with one of the girls, told her she had to be you so she could work with him. He was being Aaron, of course.”

“He sure loves his dad.”

“Aaron said you were hurt on a case a few months back, you doing okay?” Haley asked, and I could hear the genuine concern in her voice.

“Yeah, gunshot to the shoulder and a dislocated arm, nothing major.”

“Aaron said he shot you?”

“I told him too, it was the only way to get Tuck to release me. He still feels guilty about it…obviously, since he told you about it.”

“I’m sorry if he crossed a line, I think he’s just used to telling me about his cases.”

“Oh, no, Haley I don’t mind. I’m just worried he’ll never forgive himself. Seems like he holds onto his guilt.”

“He does.”

“Mommy, Y/N, did you see us?!” Jack called, running over to us. Aaron jogged behind him. 

“We did, you went so fast!” Haley said, scooping up her son. Aaron kissed the top of my head.

“Can we get ice cream?” Jack asked, and Haley nodded.

“Sure buddy.”

“Can y/n take me? Please?” He begged. 

“Of course buddy, if she doesn’t mind,” Haley said, and I shook my head.

“Of course not. Let’s go!” I took his hand and led him over to the ice cream stall. We waited in line while Jack showed me some knew dance moves he’d learned at preschool.

When it was our turn Jack wanted a chocolate cone, so that’s what we got. I paid and took the cone, handing it down to Jack. 

“Don’t drop it,” I warned him, and he nodded, looking at it like it was the best thing he’d ever had.

“Hello y/n,” a voice came from behind me, and I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I felt a tension run through me. I turned around slowly, trying to hide my fear.

“Tuck.”

“It’s been a while, thought you might forget me again,” he said, his hand holding a gun inside his jacket.

“Not likely to forget you after last time. See your face healed up nicely.” It hadn’t, in fact the glass had left a nasty scar along his eye and cheek. 

“Oh don’t worry, I plan to thank you properly for that. We have unfinished business, darling. Business that requires some privacy.”

“Let him go, and I’ll go with you.” Tuck nodded and I took Jacks hand, bending down to be face to face with him. 

“Hey Jack, you see your mom and dad?” He looked over at them and nodded.

“Okay, I need you to go to them right now okay, straight to them.”

“Okay,” he said, running to his parents, trying not to drop his cone. I stood up, not looking at Aaron and Haley. 

“Let’s go,” Tuck said, grabbing my arm with his free hand and pulling me along with him. I wasn’t armed, but my credentials were in my purse, along with a bottle of pepper spray. I knew Aaron kept his ankle holster on anytime he was out, but I couldn’t alert him without Tuck knowing. I tried to put my hand in my purse, but Tuck grabbed it from my shoulder and tossed it behind us. He shoved me into a truck, similar to his that had been taken into evidence, but I knew it wouldn’t be registered to him. I just hoped Jack was like his father and had seen enough to tip Aaron off.

Hotch pov 

Haley and I were talking when Jack ran back to us, holding his ice cream.

“Look I got chocolate,” he said, showing us.

“Wow buddy, that looks so yummy,” I said, turning to speak to Y/N. But she wasn’t there.

“Hey buddy, where’s Y/N?” I asked Jack, who pointed over to the ice cream stand.

“A man came over to us, and she went away with him,” he replied, licking his dripping treat.

“A man?”

Haley could hear the concern in my voice, “What’s wrong?”

“Jack what did the man look like?”

“He had a scary scar on his face, and y/n didn’t like him.”

“Aaron?” Haley questioned. I grabbed my phone and dialed Y/N, which went straight to voicemail. I ran over to the ice cream stand. “Y/N?!” Haley had Jack by the hand and followed me.

“Aaron what’s going on?” 

I saw Y/N’s purse on the ground and ran over, picking it up. All of her stuff was still inside, including her phone. 

“Tuck, he took Y/N.” I dialed JJ and she picked up almost immediately.

“JJ, Y/N’s been taken by Tuck. I need everyone here as fast as possible, send pd officers.” JJ could hear the concern in my voice and quickly hung up after I gave her the address of the park. Within   
a few seconds I heard sirens coming to the park.

“Tuck, he’s the one who took her before, right?” Haley asked.

“Yes. Dammit, I didn’t know he was in Virginia.” 

“Daddy, did the scary man take Y/N?” Jack asked. 

“It’s okay buddy, we’re gonna get her back.” I picked Jack up and hugged him. 

Reader POV

He drove us to a warehouse, down by the water, and grabbed my arm, pulling me from the truck with him. He shoved me in front, forcing me to walk ahead of him, the gun aimed at my back.   
When we got to the warehouse doors, he handed me a key, and I unlocked it, going inside. 

There wasn’t anything particular about it, just an old fishing storage. I’d gone through Tuck’s entire life, this warehouse wasn’t connected to him in anyway. Aaron and the team had nothing to go on. They’d never find me, not unless Tuck wanted me found.

“So, Dad, upgraded from the house to this place?” I asked sarcastically. 

“Shut up.”

“What, am I not supposed to call you Dad? You waited 20 years to tell me who you were, now you don’t wanna own up?”

“I said shut up!” I felt him hit me with the gun in the back of my head. I fell forward to the ground. It hadn’t knocked me out, but I was dizzy, and I could feel blood dripping down my neck.

“I forgot, I mean you did kill my mother. Doesn’t make you much of a father does it?” He kicked me, and I fell to my stomach. He kept kicking me, until I coughed up blood. 

“She lied to me, she got what she deserved.”

“Am I gonna get what I deserve, Tuck?”

“Yes. We could have been happy together. But you played me. You tricked me, almost killed me.”

“It’s too bad Hotch didn’t aim a little bit to the right.”

He reared back and kicked me again, this time in my face. I blacked out then. 

When I woke up I was strapped to a metal table. I could feel my nose was broken, and my lips had bled. I looked around, trying to see where he was. I could just make him out at the edge of my vision. 

“That all you got, Dad?” I called out to him. He stopped whatever he was doing and walked over to me. 

“Oh sweetheart, I’ve got so much more planned for you. Tell me, when you dug up my history, looked into your mother, how did it say she died?”

“Car accident.”

“Mm…yes I suppose in the end the car did have an accident, but she was dead before she was in it. I made sure of that.”

The look in his eyes sent a shiver down my spine. When we’d met before, he was delusional, and breaking his delusion angered him. This seemed entirely different. He seemed calm, focused, determined. 

“You know what my father did for a living, sweetheart?”

“Farmer.”

“Exactly. I worked that farm every damn day of my life, and I learned how to cut up a pig. I took my time with Lisa, you know I bet they said in your little report she was cut in half by the accident. I did that long before hand. When she stopped screaming for me.” He was walking away as he spoke, walking back to the table he had been at before. I followed him with my eyes as far as I could. 

He grabbed something and came back, and I saw it was a large blade, sharp and straight. 

“You gotta let em bleed a while, you know. The pigs.”

“Tuck you don’t have to do this.”

“Oh sweetheart…I really do,” He said as he sliced at my arm. It hurt like a bitch, but I contained my reaction. 

“Well…we’re gonna have to do better than that. Luckily you got two arms, and two legs, and two feet…” He sliced my arm again right under the first. 

Hotch POV

The team, minus Morgan who was out of state, rushed to the park. I sent Haley and Jack home, promising to update her as soon as I knew something. She was always kind, that was part of what made me fall in love with her in high school. 

“What do we know?” Prentiss asked the minute she reached me. 

“Tuck approached Y/N and Jack at the ice cream stand. Jack didn’t see much, but Y/N told him to run to me before she left with Tuck.” I was frustrated, not that I blamed Jack. He was a toddler, he had no idea. I was frustrated with myself for not paying more attention to where Tuck could be, for letting Y/N walk around unarmed. For letting her out of my sight. 

“We’ve got officers asking everyone in the park if they saw Tuck or Y/N, we’re hoping we’ll get something,” Rossi said. 

“What do you want us to do, Hotch?” Prentiss asked. 

“Reid, I want you with me here, I wanna walk through how he got her away before Jack reached us. Prentiss, Rossi, start talking to witnesses, see if anyone has a good lead. JJ I want you on media, get their pictures out there. If he’s running someone may have seen them.”

JJ nodded and went to talk to the reporters that were around, none of who really knew what was going on. It was going to be big news when they learned an FBI agent was kidnapped, and it wouldn’t be long for them to figure out she’d be kidnapped before. 

Prentiss and Rossi went to see if anyone had seen anything useful, leaving Reid with me at the ice cream stand. 

“So walk me through it again,” Reid said, standing next to the stand. 

“Y/N and Jack came to get an ice cream, she handed him the cone when Tuck got her attention.” I stood behind Reid, who was acting as Y/N. He turned to look at me. 

“So Jack saw Tuck?”

“He said he had a scar, from when Y/N cut him.”

“What did Tuck say?”

“He said they needed privacy, and Y/N told him she’d go with him if he let Jack go. It would have taken him maybe a minute to run to me and Haley where we were, I looked for Y/N immediately and she wasn’t in sight.”

“So he probably parked pretty close to here, a dude running dragging a woman behind him would draw a lot of attention, and it doesn’t look like he did that.” Reid walked around to possible spots Tuck could have been parked. Unfortunately the ice cream stand was right near the parking lot. 

“Dammit!” I slammed my hands down on the stand, and Reid jumped a bit, looking at me. 

“Hotch, Y/N…she’ll be fine,” I could hear the worry in his voice. He was her best friend…I had to remember if anything happened to her it wouldn’t only be me who would be devastated. 

“Hotch! Reid!” I heard Prentiss yell, and we ran over to her. 

“What do you got?” I asked.

She was standing with an older man and a teenager. 

“This is Mark Potts, he thinks he may have something to help us.”

I looked at him to tell me. 

“That woman you’re looking for, she was a couple people behind us in line for ice cream. She was with a little boy.”

“My son.”

“Well we were already on our way back over here by the time she got up to order, so I didn’t think I’d be much help…but my son,” he patted his son on the shoulder, “he was videotaping. So I took a look at the footage, here.” He grabbed the camera from his son and turned it so I could see the screen and then hit play. 

At first it was just footage of an older woman, presumedly the mother, and a little girl, before it turned to point to Mark walking back with ice cream cones with another little girl. In the background I could see Y/N, see Tuck come up to her, Jack running, and then Tuck leading her away. They got into a red truck, fairly new looking, and god bless technology, we could get most of the license plate. 

“I already got Garcia looking for the plate,” Prentiss told me. 

“Sir, you’ve helped a great deal, thank you,” I shook his hand before pulling out my phone and calling Garcia myself.

“Speak to me,” she answered.

“Garcia where are we with the license plate?”

“I was just pulling up the info. It’s a rental, registered to Avis. I’m getting the rental record now, and I’ve got a APB on it now.”

“Call me the minute someone finds it.”

“Will do, sir. Let’s find our girl.” she hung up. 

It was hours before we got any word. We were back at the office, and I had locked myself in my office. With every minute that went by, I could picture Y/N getting further and further away from me. Who the hell knew where Tuck would take her. 

I kicked my desk violently, and shoved everything off it. I’d let her get taken twice. I should have killed Tuck when I had the chance. I wouldn’t make that mistake again. 

I collapsed in my chair, face in my hands, trying to focus on Y/N.

A pounding on the door brought my attention back, and I got up to unlock it. 

“We got it,” Rossi said, and I grabbed my jacket and followed him. We went straight to the garage as he filled me in.

“Patrol located it by the harbor near a warehouse. They haven’t gone inside, but they say the truck is empty.”

I got in the driver’s seat, and sped out to the street. I pulled Garcia up on speakerphone.

“Garcia, get me the address of the warehouse.”

“Yes sir, it’s 144 Richmond Drive, looks like it’s an old fishing storage building, not in use currently, and nothing to tie it to Tuck.”

“Thank you,” I hung up.

“Hotch, if they’ve been there the whole time-” Rossi began.

“Don’t.” I couldn't begin to imagine what he might have done to her in that time frame. 

We drove in silence, lights and sirens blaring. Reid, Prentiss, and JJ were behind us, as well as Virginia PD. 

We were 10 minutes away. I hoped we had 10 minutes.

Reader POV

I couldn’t feel my body anymore, only pain. I lost count of how many times he had cut into me, hit me, did whatever else he did to me. Mentally I was in my own world, thinking of Aaron and the team, of Jack. Aaron and I were supposed to be going to a wedding in a month, and I’d bought my dress. It was red, strappy, full-length. I couldn’t wait for him to see it. I pictured his face when I walked out wearing it. We’d be late for the wedding, cause he’d have to strip it off me. 

“Y/n....stay with me. It’s no fun if you aren’t paying attention.”

“Go fuck yourself...” I whispered, choking on some blood in my throat. I leaned over to spit it out.

“You’re tougher than you look. I bet the FBI train you in how to handle torture,” Tuck theorized. “But eventually you’ll give in...”

I felt the blade in my stomach, and closed my eyes, trying to hold on to the image of Aaron. He pushed it deeper, and when the blade reached my organs, I screamed.

Hotch POV

We pulled up with the sirens and lights off, and I jumped out of the car, drawing my side arm and heading to the front door. I was about to direct Reid and Prentiss to go around the side, when we heard Y/N screaming. 

I ran to the door, kicking it down, and we all swept in. I could hear footsteps from a room down the hall, and went there, stepping in and aiming my gun at Tuck.

“Charles Tuck, FBI. Drop the knife,” I ordered. His back was to me, standing in front of Y/N who was laying on a table. There was blood everywhere, all over her, him, the table, the floor.

“You’re too late, Agent.”

“Drop the knife or I will shoot you.”

He lifted the knife again, and despite training telling me to aim for his arm, I shot him in the back three times. He fell to the ground, and I shot him once more. Last time he had lived, this time he wouldn’t get the chance.

Prentiss and Reid cleared the room. I was at the table, staring down at Y/N. 

I wanted to fall apart, but I couldn’t. I checked the pulse at her neck. It was weak, but present. She was still breathing....just barely. 

“Get a medic in here now!”

I put pressure on her stomach where most of the blood was coming from, ripping the rest of her town shirt off to use. He had almost eviscerated her. Reid came over, tears in his eyes.

“Is she...”

“She’s alive, barely, where’s the medic?!” I yelled, hearing them come up behind me. They pushed me aside and began working on her, getting pressure on her stomach and an oxygen mask on her face. I followed them to the ambulance and rode with them to the hospital. I hadn’t even spoken to the team as I left. I knew they would do what they needed to, and they knew I needed to be with her. I held her hand as we sped to the nearest hospital, the EMT calling in to have a trauma room ready. 

“Hang on, baby…” I whispered to her, squeezing her hand. 

They kept Y/N in a coma for the first while, the pain was too intense. It had been almost two weeks. She was still recovering, and would be for a few months, but they took her out of the coma. She still hadn’t woken up. Jack had come to visit with Haley, and was confused why Y/N wouldn’t wake up. I told him she was sleeping, like sleeping beauty, and she’d wake up when she was ready. 

I’d had to tell Strauss about our relationship. I was in trouble, of course, but she let me have indefinite time off. I barely left Y/N’s side, even when they tried to kick me out. 

Tuck had torn her, her arms and legs, her torso, her back and neck. He’d beaten her across the face. If we hadn’t gotten there when we did he would have cut her in half. She’d been awake for all of it. If I could kill him again, I would. The longer I looked at her face, eyes closed in sleep but knowing she wasn’t peaceful, the more pain and guilt I felt. I wanted to have someone comfort me, but knew that Y/N was who I would go to. I sobbed into her side, holding her hand. 

I fell asleep at some point, face against her side, leaning over the hospital bed. I woke to her stirring, and looked up at her. Her eyes were opening, slowly, barely. She looked down at me from her mostly closed eyes.

“Aaron…”

“Shh….” I sat up, still holding her hand. “It’s okay, baby, you’re safe now. Tuck’s dead.”

She groaned, and I could see she was in pain. 

I pushed the call button for a nurse. 

“I’ll get you some pain medicine. It’ll be alright.”

“How long…out?” she asked.

“It’s been a couple weeks.”

“Jack…okay?”

I shed a few tears, and laughed at how only she would focus on Jack rather than herself. 

“He misses you, can’t wait for you to take him to the zoo.”

“Wants to see the lions…told him he had to hold my hand…if I got scared.”

I leaned in and kissed her forehead gently. “I love you, Y/N. So much…”

“love you…”

The nurse came in then, and gave her some more pain meds. Her eyes closed slowly, and she was asleep again. I kissed her hand and continued to hold it until morning.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end of a story, and the beginning of forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it guys! Thank you all who read along to my first ever fanfic! I'm excited I got to tell this story, but fear not! I plan on continuing the story of Hotch and Reader in a sequel series that will follow the events of specific episodes across the remaining seasons.

Aaron opened the door, while Penelope helped me inside. I could walk slowly, but it hurt. They’d finally cleared me to leave the hospital after about a month, and I had another two weeks on bed rest before I could go back to semi normal life. 

“Where you want me to put the lady?” Penelope asked, and I smiled.

“The couch is fine, P,” I answered, and she led me over, helping me sit without jostling too much. 

“Do you need anything? Juice, vodka, a puppy?” 

“Penelope...”

“What? How about I hack into the FBI files and give you a raise?”

“I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that,” Aaron said, walking over.

“Thank you, sir. Okay, I will be back tomorrow for babysitting duty!” 

“It’s not babysitting duty! I can take care of myself you know.”

“Sure lady, see you tomorrow!” Penelope kissed my heard before leaving. 

“You’re really gonna let her in here? Every day?”

“She’s the only one who doesn’t need to come with us, it’s the best decision. Besides, she’s your friend.”

“I know, and as her friend I can say that she will drive me insane.”

Aaron sat carefully next to me. “It’s only gonna be while I’m gone. Haley and Jack will switch off with her if it gets too much.”

“No, I don’t want to put her out like that.”

“She doesn’t mind.”

“Aaron, I like Haley and I respect her, but I’m not letting your ex-wife come take care of your girlfriend. It’s awkward.”

“Then you’re stuck with Garcia.”

“Can’t you just stay and cuddle me?” 

He kissed me gently. “If I could I would. We’re already an agent down. I’ve been gone for a month. Time to get back to normal.”

“Is Strauss still mad?”

“She’s over it. We’ll have to have a discussion about working together, but it’ll be fine. The team can give evidence we work together fine.”

“If I ever get to go back...”

“You need to heal....what he did to you...”

“Aaron, don’t think about it. I’m gonna be fine. Covered in ugly scars all over my body....but fine.”

He kissed at the scars on my arms, they had healed first. “They just remind me how incredibly strong and brave you are.” 

“You know, I wanted to hide the pain, so he wouldn’t enjoy it. I just thought of you, and Jack, and how I didn’t have enough time with you yet.”

“We’ve got all the time in the world,” he said, kissing me softly. “Except when I’m on a case.”

He went on his first case two days later, and unfortunately they needed Garcia with them. Aaron dropped me off at his old house, where Haley was still living. If I was honest, the biggest reason I didn’t want Haley looking after me was that I was jealous. I knew Aaron still loved her, he always would. She loved him too, but he loved his job and it wasn’t going to work for them anymore. Part of me wondered if they might change their minds and get back together. They had Jack, it was a good reason to try. 

Jack wanted to hug me so badly, but I couldn’t let him, but Haley lifted him up so he could give me a kiss. 

“Jack, you’re gonna take good care of y/n for me right?”

“Yes daddy.”

Aaron smiled and gave his son a kiss, then led me over to sit on the couch. Jack came and sat with me while Aaron went over stuff with Haley. 

“You know I still have full mental capacity, I can tell her my med schedule myself,” I joked. 

“Yes but you’d probably lie about how much pain you’re in. I’m making sure Haley knows.”

“You’re giving away my tells?”

“Of course.”

“Stupid profiler...”

Jack was holding my hand, and he seemed content just to sit with me. 

“Did the scary man hurt you?” He asked me, and I nodded. I was wearing sweats and a long sleeve shirt, hiding as many of the scars as I could. A few on my neck were still visible, but otherwise I looked fairly normal. 

“Yes he did. But your dad found me and made the scary man go away.”

“He’s good at that.”

“Yes he is.”

“Mommy was really worried...” he whispered, and I turned to look at her briefly. 

“She was?”

Jack nodded. 

Aaron came over then and kissed the top of my head. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Call and keep me updated! Don’t make me get Garcia after you,” I threatened. 

“Yes dear,” he said, kissing Jack goodbye and leaving. 

“Can we watch a movie?” Jack asked excitedly. 

“We sure can!” 

Aaron and the team were back in a few days, and he picked me up from his old house. Spending time with Haley and Jack had been amazing, despite my jealousy. 

When we got back to Aaron’s apartment, he shut the door and kissed me deeply.

“I missed you,” he said after a minute.

“I missed you too, I can’t wait til I can go back to work.” 

“You’re presence was missed. Garcia wouldn’t stop asking me a million questions. Reid just kept looking at me with sad puppy eyes. I didn’t realize how much you dealt with them on my behalf.”

I laughed, moving over to sit on the couch. “Yeah, I try and keep them from annoying you as much as possible.”

“Garcia also kept slipping granola bars into my pockets, my bag, I found one in my hotel room.”

“I told her you forget to eat sometimes when you’re too focused. She went a bit overboard.” 

He knelt down in front of me, taking my hands in his. 

“What would I do without you, y/n?” He asked seriously.

“Let’s hope we never find out.” I leaned down and kissed him. 

“Move in with me,” he said suddenly, and I sat back.

“I have moved in...”

“No, after you’re better, when you come back to work. Move in, live here with me.”

“You’re asking me to move in officially?”

“Yes.”

I smiled.

“Then yes.”

He slapped my thigh gently, minding my wounds, but still enough to get my attention.

“Yes, sir.”

“Lay back,” he commanded, and I did as he said. His hands went to the waistband of my pants and pulled them down, leaving me in my panties.

“What are you doing?”

“Well I can’t fuck you like I want to...but I can still make you cum,” he said, rubbing me through my panties. 

“Aaron...”

“Quiet. You make any noises and I’ll stop. Understand?” I nodded, spreading my legs for him to move in between. He pulled my panties to the side and leaned in, licking my slit. I immediately let out a moan and he pulled away.

“I’m sorry, sir. I couldn’t help it.” He leaned in and kissed me, shoving his tongue past my lips. Then he went back and pulled my panties completely off, tossing them aside. He shoved a finger inside, licking at my clit. I bit my lip to keep quiet. He knew I hated being quiet. 

He shoved another finger inside, scissoring them and making my hips jolt. I grabbed a pillow with one hand, and Aaron’s hair with the other. I pulled, not too hard, just enough to get him going.

He growled, and continued licking my clit, circling it with his tongue. Before him, this would be all I needed to get off, but I was so used to his cock that two fingers was never gonna be enough anymore. He added a third and I could feel my peak beginning. 

“Come on baby...” he whispered, kissing my inner thigh before using his thumb to rub my clit quickly. My fingers tightened in his hair as I felt the wave crash over me. He immediately moved his mouth to my entrance, licking me through it and pumping his fingers. When I let go of his hair he stopped, kissing my pussy before sitting up and licking his lips.

“Fuck Aaron...I missed that.” 

“Me too.”

“Get up here,” I demanded, pulling at his arms so that he got on the couch, and forcing him to lay down across it. I moved in between his legs and unzipped his jeans.

“Y/n. What are you doing?”

“The first time we fucked you wouldn’t let me get you off. I am not letting that happen again.”

“Sweetheart you’re still recovering.”

“My mouth works just fine, thank you,” I countered, pulling his jeans and boxers down enough for me to get to his cock.

He was hard, and it stood proudly in front of me. I wrapped my hand around it, jerking it up and down. He groaned and threw his head back against the pillow. 

I jerked him for a minute or so, before positioning myself as comfy as possible and licking it from root to tip. 

“Fuck...” he moaned, and I took the tip into my mouth, sucking it and moving down. It had taken practice but I could take all of him. He still choked me a bit, but I loved it. I worked down slowly, pulling up every so often and working down again, until I had all of him in my mouth. I purposefully gagged, knowing it set Aaron off.

“Fucking hell...” he said, grabbing a hold of my hair and pulling it away from my face so he could watch. As I bobbed up and down on his cock, I looked up at him from under my lashes. When I felt it pulse I pulled off, and he groaned in frustration.

“I haven’t had your cock in over a month...I’m gonna take as long as I please.” I waited a minute for him to calm down, before taking it in my mouth again in one motion. I sucked and licked, even grazing my teeth gently along it. It was only a few more minutes before Aaron’s hand tightened in my hair, and this time I kept going until I felt him explode down my throat. I kept sucking him clean, and pulled off with a noisy pop. 

“I fucking love you,” he said, pulling me up to him carefully and kissing me. 

The worst moments of my life were seemingly over. I’d been kidnapped, twice, by my biological father who murdered my mother and tortured me. But in the end, I found love, I had my team and my best friends, and a new family to protect. Our job was dangerous, and I knew we would deal with more challenges in the future, but we’d have each other. Is it my fault we took so long to find each other? Maybe. Maybe it was his. Or maybe we just needed more time. But I had him now, and I planned on holding onto him forever.


End file.
